Sci-fi, metamorphosis and the human psyche: Inside Magdalena Bay’s ‘Imaginal Disk’
“This is the guide and the blueprint to this world that we’re trying to to create.”
Magdalena Bay may have just gifted us with one of the best synth-pop albums of the year and a whole extraterrestrial world to go along with it.
For their sophomore project, the Californian duo figured it wasn’t enough to deliver 15 glittering, magnetic, hook-speckled songs. They wanted more. The end product, Imaginal Disk, is the result of sketching, character building, costume design and an enormous mood board spanning everything from cult leader couture to French fantasy films.
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Made up of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, Magdalega Bay have always had a strong visual identity. For their debut release, Mercurial World, they embraced bold, vibrant, optical illusion-like patterns, often seen on stage in skin-tight bodysuits. But for Imaginal Disk, they’ve taken it to a new and otherworldly level.
The quasi-concept album follows Mica’s character True Blue as she’s abducted by aliens and inserted with the ‘disk’ – a CD storing human consciousness that’s slotted into the forehead.
“I was researching about caterpillars and how they become butterflies just for fun one night,” Mica says, “and I didn’t know that when they transform, they get liquefied down to just pure liquid before they become butterflies, but they still retain the same memories after their transformation.”
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Insects that go through metamorphosis have clumps of cells called imaginal discs, that store the information for their transformation. Learning about this process, along with reading into psychoanalysis and philosophy of self, helped form the album’s universe in Mica’s mind.
“When we found the ‘imaginal disc’ phrase, we thought it sounded really cool but it wasn’t until later that we figured out why it felt so perfect, and what exactly it meant to us,” she says. From there, they brought in a frenzy of other visual references, citing the films of David Lynch and David Cronenberg.
“The fashion in a sci-fi or a fantasy film will resonate with us because they feel like the idealised version of what a stage costume should be,” Matthew tells me. “The mood of a horror movie from the ’70s is so different to a modern one. I think there’s something about the combination of the practical effects – there was more of an emphasis on creating a certain atmosphere as opposed to just a jump scare or something.”
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After assembling hundreds of images from books, movies and photo shoots and using them to form character concepts, Magdalena Bay brought in a creative team to help them bring the vision to life.
“When making the music videos, we had to be like, ‘Hey, there’s this 80-page doc. Sorry, it’s enormous. Take your time to digest this and let us know what you think,’” says Mica.
Aside from the great lengths they’ve gone to, to build the record’s story and fill it with easter eggs, the music stands firmly on its own. From the groovy bass line and staccato ‘la-la-la-las’ of ‘That’s My Floor’ to the infectious rhythmic interplay of ‘Fear, Sex’, it’s packed with absolute earworms. They even sneak in a few epic prog-rock breakdowns, a throwback to the rock band they started together in high school, Tabula Rasa.
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While the music has always been the central driving force of the project, Mica says the visuals help keep the project cohesive and give them “infinitely more inspiration to draw from.”
“If someone just wants to listen to one song of ours, or ideally, the whole album, that’s amazing. But for anyone that really wants to get in deep, we want to have just endless shit for them to experience and immerse themselves in,” she says.
When I catch them on Zoom, they’re in a hotel room in Omaha, Nebraska, a week into their Imaginal Mystery Tour. Their brand-new stage show is their most extravagant yet, with set pieces and costume changes, and fans seem to be eating it up.
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“We just got custom-moulded in-ears [monitors], which is great because it means you have super isolation for your in-ears, but it also means that I can’t hear when people sing along and stuff,” Matthew says. “So we played the first few shows and I was like, ‘Man, I can’t feel the connection to the crowd’. And then I watched the videos back and I’m like, oh, wait, everyone is singing. I just can’t hear.” They both laugh.
“I have to take one ear out so I can hear everyone, because if not, I internally combust,” says Mica. “I need to hear them having good time or I lose my mind.”
To see more from Magdalena Bay, head here.
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