Magdalena Bay

A pop duo with progressive roots and a slick, homemade sound, Magdalena Bay rose out of Los Angeles at the tail-end of the 2010s with buzz-worthy tracks like “Neon” and “Killshot.” A crafty mix of left-field quirkiness and early-2000s stylistic hooks, they issued a pair of well-received EPs which paved the way for their 2021 debut full-length, Mercurial World.
Mica Tenenbaum and Matt Lewin first met through an after-school music program in Miami where they both grew up. Bonding over a variety of mutual influences, most notably progressive rock, the two formed a Genesis- and King Crimson-inspired prog band while still in their teens. Reconnecting during their college years, Tenenbaum and Lewin shifted gears and began writing pop music, taking cues from cutting-edge producers like Charli XCX and Grimes while nodding to early-2000s pop stars like Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears.
Magdalena Bay debuted in 2017 with the woozy, chilled-out “Neon” and spent the next two years honing their sound with a succession of singles and short EPs leading up to the 2019 release of Mini Mix, Vol. 1 on Luminelle Recordings. Rhythmic, slick, and subtly suggestive, they paired their music with an increasingly retro aesthetic that involved VHS video and an intentionally primitive millennial website. After 2020′s A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling, which yielded highlights like the slinky “Killshot” and the bubblegum “How to Get Physical,” they finally delivered their first full-length album in 2021′s Mercurial World. ~ Timothy Monger