Magdalena Bay is an American alternative pop[6] duo from Miami, Florida, based in Los Angeles, California. The duo consists of couple Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, who write and produce together. They have released two studio albums, three EPs, and three mixtapes. The mixtapes are called Mini Mixes and are composed of short songs with accompanying homemade green screen music videos.
The duo released their debut studio album, Mercurial World, on October 8, 2021. They have been noted for their informational TikTok videos on the music industry and their kitschyDIY visuals.[7][8][9] Their second album, Imaginal Disk, was released on August 23, 2024.
Background
Tenenbaum was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was one year old, growing up in Miami. Lewin was born in Miami and is of Argentine descent on his father's side.[10] Both Tenenbaum and Lewin are Jewish.[10] They originally met in high school at a program run by Live! Modern School of Music, where they were placed in a classic rock cover band and later began writing their own progressive rock music as Tabula Rasa.[11][12][8] After that band broke up, they formed Magdalena Bay in 2016 while on vacation from college—Tenenbaum at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Lewin at Northeastern University in Boston—and continued to collaborate remotely.[13] The band was named after an administrator at Lewin's former job.[9][11]
Career
They have cited Grimes, Chairlift, and Charli XCX as influences.[9] The duo released their first two EPs, Day/Pop and Night/Pop, in 2019, and signed with indie record label Luminelle Recordings later that year.[14] They later released two mixtapes and one EP: Mini Mix, Vol. 1 was released in July 2019, A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling was released in March 2020,[15] and Mini Mix, Vol. 2 was released in November 2020.
The couple released their debut studio album, Mercurial World, on October 8, 2021. The album's release was preceded by four singles: "Chaeri", "Secrets (Your Fire)", "You Lose!", and "Hysterical Us".[16][17][18] Music videos accompanying the album's singles were also released in promotion of the album.[19] A deluxe version of Mercurial World, containing fan-submitted "secrets", remixes, and two new songs, was released on September 23, 2022.[20]
Magdalena Bay performed at several prominent festivals in support of Mercurial World, including Primavera Sound in June 2022, Porter Robinson's Second Sky in October 2022, Coachella in April 2023 and Lollapalooza in August 2023.[21][22][23][24] On April 13, 2023, they released a third mixtape, Mini Mix, Vol. 3.[25]
On May 28, 2024, Magdalena Bay released the single "Death & Romance", their first release under Mom + Pop Music,[26] and also announced the Imaginal Mystery tour.[27] On July 10, 2024, the single and accompanying music video for "Image" was released. In a post-music video livestream, the duo announced their second studio album, Imaginal Disk, which was released on August 23, 2024.[28] On July 31, 2024, the album's third single, "Tunnel Vision", was released.[29] The final single, "That's My Floor", was released on August 21, 2024.
Music
The group has been described as synthpop.[30] After the release of Imaginal Disk, Lewin said, "I think what would be a positive thing is if we start to be seen less as a pop group and more like an ‘alternative’ group."[6]Paste described them as "a pop act with a rockist core", featuring progressive rock, shoegaze and disco influences.[31]
^Zhang, Cat (21 December 2020). "A Year in Music on TikTok". Pitchfork. Conde Nast. Archived from the original on October 10, 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
