Magdalena Bay

Emerging from Los Angeles toward the close of the 2010s, the pop duo Magdalena Bay crafts an inventive blend of left-field psych-pop eccentricity and early-2000s melodic hooks. Their initial buzz came from tracks such as “Neon” and “Killshot,” followed by a pair of favorably received EPs that set the stage for the 2021 full-length debut Mercurial World. Strong reception prompted a deluxe reissue, highlighted by the 2022 single “All You Do.” In 2024 the pair returned with Imaginal Disk, their second album, which matches the dance-oriented energy of its predecessor with equally psychedelic textures.

Mica Tenenbaum and Matt Lewin first crossed paths in an after-school music program in Miami, the city where both were raised. Drawn together by shared tastes that prominently included progressive rock, the teenagers formed a band inspired by Genesis and King Crimson. Years later, during college, the two pivoted toward pop songwriting, drawing from forward-thinking producers such as Charli XCX and Grimes while also referencing early-2000s figures like Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears.

The project surfaced in 2017 with the woozy, laid-back single “Neon.” Over the subsequent two years a steady stream of singles and brief EPs refined their approach, culminating in the 2019 release of Mini Mix, Vol. 1 on Luminelle Recordings. Their rhythmic, polished, and faintly suggestive sound was matched by a growing retro visual style featuring VHS footage and a deliberately rudimentary millennial-era website. The 2020 EP A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling supplied standout cuts including the slinky “Killshot” and the bubblegum-flavored “How to Get Physical,” paving the way for the arrival of their first proper album, Mercurial World, in 2021. That record reached number 18 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart; in September 2022 it was expanded into a 28-track deluxe edition anchored by the shimmering single “All You Do.”

May 2024 brought the anthemic, piano-led “Death & Romance,” the earliest preview of the sophomore album Imaginal Disk, which appeared that August and once again fused swirling psychedelic production with hook-driven dance and pop elements.