Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin of Magdalena Bay are Miami-raised, but these days you can find them drifting in their dreamworld.

The duo behind 2021’s low-key masterpiece, Mercurial World, have long utilized sci-fi tropes to create an enthralling atmosphere around their intricate and ever-smooth pop songs. But on their new album, Imaginal Disk, Magdalena Bay is upping the narrative ante and weaving in ideas of extraterrestrial life and consciousness itself.

The album follows the story of True (embodied by Tenenbaum) who exists in a universe where aliens inserted the titular “imaginal disk” into apes, creating consciousness. When True can’t process a “disk upgrade,” she embarks on a journey that takes her to the core of what it means to be human. It’s heady and philosophical, but this is a Magdalena Bay album after all, so all of these lofty ideas are expressed via their joyous pop precision. “The narrative [adds] an additional layer of meaning to the album,” Lewin tells PAPER. “[But] we like to leave the lyrics more open-ended, [so] you can put your own meaning on top of that.” Indeed, like Mercurial World, Imaginal Disk works as both an expertly crafted set of heart-aching pop songs and a subtle space saga.

While all the philosophical undertones are captivating, it’s the band’s sonics that fuel their rocket ship. It’s rare, for example, to hear a song on streaming and immediately be able to envision it playing in a stadium, but album single and standout track “Death & Romance” is clearly well positioned to be sung by a crowd of 10,000. With lyrics that read like a mantra, (“My hands, your hands/ I’ll hold forever”) and instrumentation that has the vibrancy of a forever-classic, “Death & Romance” is a clear demonstration of why Magdalena Bay has captivated the industry and fans alike, and why the duo has been going non-stop since Mercurial World transformed them from a buzzy internet synth-pop act to certifiable stars.

With Lewin and Tenenbaum both producing and Tenenbaum on vocals, the two have the rare chemistry that is forged from adolescent dreaming. The duo have been close collaborators since they were high schoolers in Miami, when they were part of a prog rock band together. When they went to different colleges, they maintained the musical connection, though they let their prog tendencies give way to the more approachable sounds of pop. Working since 2016 toward an auteur’s elevation of the genre, they have now produced two full-length LPs with the scope and glimmer of a big-budget sci-fi flick from Hollywood’s golden age. But that glimmer also has its origin in their own shared pie-in-the-sky imagination that allows them to shoot for the stars.

PAPER chatted with the duo over Zoom from their sunny Los Angeles apartment (their dog Wolfey beside them) about their career taking flight, their brand new album and their sci-fi inspirations.

Congrats on the record. I’ve been listening to it so much. I am very, very charmed by it. Like a lot of people, I became a big fan with Mercurial World. It’s rare to have an album come out and make such a splash when there’s so much music coming out every day. What have your lives been like since that record?

Matthew Lewin: It was crazy timing, because before that record we were never really touring. We both were working our day jobs in LA, and then the pandemic happened. Basically we were forced to take a break from our jobs. I was lucky to get on unemployment and not have to worry about working and we could focus all our energies onto music. So we basically made the entire record in that time period. Then we put it out as the heavy part of the pandemic was waning. And then it made its splash, and by the time it was out, we were touring and then we didn’t have to go back to our day jobs. So it was definitely this marked shift in our lives.

Mica Tenenbaum: And then we were just like in this whirlwind of touring for a couple of years after. Then we finished, and we’re like, Okay, time to do the next one? And that’s surreal. Now, we’re putting out new music, and every now and then I’m like, Oh, a lot more people are listening, compared to when we first put out Mercurial World singles. So it’s cool.

I love that government policy allowed for Magdalena Bay.

Matthew: [laughs] The stimulus-funded Mercurial World.

Mica: We had never done an album until Mercurial World. With the pandemic, with our stimulus check, with that sort of creative focus on that project, we really fell in love with making an album. It was so creatively fulfilling for us. So now, with Imaginal Disk, it’s a return to that. That format is my preferred musical vehicle.

What were the conversations like as you began to put this together? I know this record has a narrative surrounding someone learning to be human. Was that already there before or did that emerge throughout the process?

Mica: Some of the conceptual ideas came to us while we were touring. I was thinking a lot about psychoanalysis and reading Solaris. I was really interested in this idea of the self on a personal level, and then it gave way to a more sci-fi story to overlay atop those more personal ideas. We obviously love sci-fi. It’s something that influences us and lives in all of our art.

Matthew: 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. We’re not trying to make a —

David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust?

Matthew: Yeah, exactly. Not like a Ziggy Stardust, where the album is this very specific story. I think we would like to leave the lyrics more open-ended, and then you could put your own meaning on top of that.

Were you both always into sci-fi themes? How did that emerge as such a central part of Magdalena Bay?

Mica: 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, not that new shit [laughs].

“Death & Romance” really stands out to me as the heart of the record. I think it might be my favorite Magdalena Bay song.

Mica: I think that’s the very first song we wrote. We were touring Mercurial World, and we had very little time at home, and during one of those two-week periods where we had a creative spark to make that one and it felt very special.

Matthew: It was interesting cause we started with “Fear of Sex,” which is now attached to it. And we were like, “This is great. But this sort of works as an epilogue to another song.” So then we’re like, “Okay, well now we need to write the song that comes before this one.” So that’s what happened. In our minds, they’re two parts of the same song.

Do you still make everything in your home studio? Because the music sounds like it has the budget of a Dua Lipa record.

Matthew: Yeah, we have more live drums with our drummer, Nick. And then we got some strings and horns recorded, which I think helps expand the grandness of the record. But as far as the production duties, it’s us two.

Were there conversations you’re having about the sonic palette of this record, and how it may differ from the last one? I mean it feels very tied into the ‘70s influence like Mercurial World.

Mica: I think the biggest thing is what left [our listening rotation]. We stopped listening to contemporary pop.

Matthew: We definitely listen less to new music than we did when we were making Mercurial World. I think we went back to a lot of the music we listened to in high school.

And you have known each other since high school when you were in a band together, right? You must have just such a deep familiarity with each other’s references.

Mica: Yeah, it is crazy. We know all the same music, and we can pull out a deep reference and know that the other will understand.

Matthew: We’ve been influencing each other’s music taste since we were 15 years old, so I feel like it’s one in the same at this point, which is helpful when you’re making music, because I feel like when you have similar tastes, that’s the most important thing in a collaborator. You need to think that the same things sound cool, and think that the same things that don’t sound cool, sound lame. If we were on different pages about that, it could be pretty difficult.

Mica: Yeah, if one of us thinks something sounds bad. It’s like, Oh, fuck. We need to rethink that.

Do you think Miami has an enduring influence on you both musically? Maybe the yacht rock vibe?

Matthew: It’s hard to say [laughs]. I think if it’s anything, it’s the Latin rock and pop that Mica grew up listening to that’s probably the most enduring influence from Miami. When we lived in Miami and we played music, we were definitely outsiders in the Miami music scene. We were in this Prog rock band, which is probably like the least “Miami” thing.

Mica: Every other band was like Ska punk for some reason [laughs], like every other band. So I don’t know if I ever felt connected to Miami. I grew up with a lot of Argentinian rock. And now I’m actually getting into it in a serious way. And I’m like, Oh, fuck Charly Garcia is so good!

Mica, I know in college you did comedy, right? That makes sense given the theatricality of your performances and world building.

Mica: Yeah, I was in an all girl comedy sketch, and I was mainly in the band, but sometimes I would go to the writing meetings and fuck around. [But] I never acted. I was so terrified to act on stage as a comedian in that context. But I think through years of performing as Magdalena Bay I’ve grown… when we first started in our rock band in high school, I would shake on the stage, and I couldn’t make a sound.

Matthew: She would just be frozen behind the keyboard [laughs]. There’s videos of us performing, it’s really funny.

Mica: It was so freakish. But now I feel very free. I think that just comes from touring and doing the same thing every night, and you just get more comfortable. And we’ve gotten really into the line between a movie and a play [in our performances].

Matthew, you studied music business in college?

Matthew: Yeah, I studied music business at Northeastern.

I ask because the business of Magdalena Bay seems very well-run. The release feels really well-planned. I talk to a lot of artists who don’t seem to have much interest or enjoyment in that, because it can be very tedious. But I get the sense that you both enjoy the spectacle of making it run.

Matthew: There’s definitely an art to the album rollout. It’s all about teasing and world-building. It’s funny that you say it seems well run, because behind the scenes we’re up against the deadline every single time. We’re pulling all nighters, finishing videos and working on merch.

Mica: We care so much about it that we get very stressed.

Matthew: We’re also very hands on with a lot of things, because we’re editing the videos and doing the VFX. Being super involved is good, because I think fans can see that and appreciate that there’s like thought and care put into it.

Mica: We do go a little insane. I think we’re always trying to find that balance between inner peace and outward productivity and creation. It’s very hard.

Given how much you both are doing yourselves, how do you maintain a peaceful relationship between you both? Because it’s just a lot that you are taking on.

Matthew: I think it would be a lot more difficult if we weren’t creatively aligned. Those are the arguments that could get personal if you have creative differences. And tensions get high when you’re sleep deprived and you’re on the final round of exports for something. But we’re both trying to achieve the same goal which is having the best video, best music as possible. I don’t think we let it really impact our personal lives.

Mica: Yeah, we’ve been doing it for a minute now, so we know how it is.

Photography: Lissyelle Laricchia