Last year, the Patriot Press covered Northern High School alumna Jordana Nye’s music career so far, including her collaboration with fellow indie artist duo, Magdalena Bay. Since then, Magdalena Bay’s trajectory has skyrocketed.
In an April 2021 Flood Magazine article, Jordana and Magdalena Bay’s Mica Tenebaum (husband Matthew Lewin being the other half of the duo) are described as “a match made in gritty synthpop heaven” on their pop single “Push Me Away” produced by MELVV and Jai Wolf.
“’Push Me Away’ is a song written about one of my past friendships,” Jordana shared in a press statement. “It was an extremely strenuous friendship with a major push/pull dynamic—this song is basically a stream of consciousness reflection on the experience.” The video for the song is filled with bright lights, colors and fun graphics like laser beams. Together with the featured solo by Mica Tenebaum, you get a sense of where Magdalena Bay was headed with its creativity, aesthetic and sound.
2021 was a good year for Magdalena Bay, as a slowed-down, reverbed version of their song “Killshot” off of their ep “A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling” started to go viral on TikTok. It gained popularity after frequently being used in edits on the platform.
Fast forward to August of 2024, Magdalena Bay released their second studio album, “Imaginal Disk.” @chartdata tweeted out, “Magdalena Bay’s ‘Imaginal Disk’ sold 7.4K units in the first week of release. The biggest debut in their career.”
Continuing with their creative storytelling and visuals, “Imaginal Disk” tells a story interwoven in songs and the corresponding videos. Mica Tenebaum plays the character of True, who is in a universe where aliens insert “imaginal disk” into apes, creating consciousness. True is unable to process the disk upgrade. From there, she takes you on a journey of what it means to be human.
In an August 2024 Paper Magazine article, Mica and Matthew Lewin talk about how the story is up for interpretation, as well as their love of science fiction and its influence on their art. “When we write the music, the narrative that the videos impose upon the music is an additional layer of meaning to the album rather than the one and only way to interpret it,” said Matthew. “We’re both huge sci-fi fans. Both of us loved to read as little kids and now too. But it’s just like one of those genres that really speaks to us, in a storytelling way, but also visually. It’s just so fun to watch a sci-fi film, but mainly older ones,” added Mica.
You definitely can see those influences in their work, as the duo is now recognized for their artsy, retro, sci-fi vibes. Again, the fans showed up on social media, sharing the music and dances, as well as recreating visuals like makeup, costumes and even making it appear as if they are having an imaginal disk inserted into their foreheads.
In the past year, Magdalena Bay has been on tour as an opener for Billie Eilish in London and at festivals including Yours and Owls Festival (Australia), Axe Ceremonia (Mexico City), Lightning in a Bottle (California), Primavera Sound Barcelona (Spain), We Love Green (Paris) and Lollapalooza (Chicago). They also performed at their own headlining tour, most recently at the Anthem in DC, where Mica said she thought it was their biggest headlining audience so far. The duo’s audience will only continue to grow as time goes on.