Mercurial World
The retro-futuristic duo (Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin) hails from LA by way of the uncanny Valley, churning out trippy DIY videos made from random VHS footage and mailing weird brochures to fans like a secretive cult. But on debut full-length *Mercurial World*, their polished synth-pop demands to be taken seriously, though their playful spirit abides—emulating the effects of a VOCALOID with their mouths, kicking off the album with a track called “The End.” Tenenbaum and Lewin blend the nostalgic with the contemporary, combining Y2K-era bubblegum, the disco grooves of mid-aughts indie-dance crossovers, and the space-age sheen of hyperpop for a 45-minute sugar rush; don’t miss “Chaeri,” 2021’s best pop song about being a bad friend.
www.mercurialworld.com
Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin’s fuzzy, rococo synthpop confections have a magic power: They sound like whatever you grew up with, whenever that was.
On their debut full-length album, 2021's frothy and addictive Mercurial World, Los Angeles duo Magdalena Bay smash all of their varied synth pop, disco, and electronica influences into a big, sparkly blender and pour out one dazzling pop smoothie after another.
In the winter of 1984, Madonna declared herself a "Material Girl." She lived, unapologetic and decked in diamonds, in a "material world." Fo...
With Y2K-nostalgia in full swing, it was only a matter of time before somebody seized on the aesthetics of the turn-of-the-century internet-obsessed. That band is newcomers Magdalena Bay. They teased their debut, Mercurial World, with a host of retro websites, music videos, and surreal and hilarious Tik Toks, adding to their ranks of terminally online pop fans through copious amounts of fish-eye lenses and neon colors.
On 'Mercurial World,' Magdalena Bay weave disco, EDM, vaporwave, and video game music into a dense world of escapist charms and an inescapable structure.
Mercurial World by Magdalena Bay Album review by Adam Williams. The full-length comes out on October 8, via Luminelle Recordings
The LA duo’s debut offers sultry grooves and wraithlike vocals alongside a mix of sweetness and distortion