Imaginal Disk

更なる進化を遂げたインディハイパーポップ
LAの男女デュオ2作目。チャーリーXCX、キャロライン・ポラチェック、ピンクパンサレスとも共振するハイパーポップをベースとしながら、アーリー00sなエレクトロポップ的なアプローチ、プログレバンド出身の2人らしいエキセントリックな展開、実験的なアプローチまであり。ほのかに残すインディの香りまで絶妙なセンスが素晴らしい。まずはキラーな(4)(5)から。

LAを拠点に活動するMica TenenbaumとMatthew Lewinによるデュオ、Magdalena Bayのニューアルバム。
プログレ/コンセプト・ロックにルーツを持ちながら、ノスタルジックな要素を含んだ良質なシンセ・ポップを展開。幅広いリスナーを獲得しています。

Los Angeles Magdalena Bay strike a vivid, aquamarine-colored tone on their sophomore album, 2024s absurdist and sensual Imaginal Disk. The follow-up to their 2021 debut, Mercurial World, the record once again features the collaborative talents of singer Mica Tenenbaum and instrumentalist/producer Matt Lewin. If their first album was a hyper-colored pop kaleidoscope, on Imaginal Disk they push it even further, crafting a 3-D stereogram of psychedelic new age dance-pop, much of which has the quirky yet oddly alluring Internet aesthetic of a Kate Bush album cybernetically filtered through AOL instant messenger software. Here, Tenenbaum is a cherubic diva, Madonna as Pikachu, her highly resonant voice framed in a sonically textured blend of analog and electronic instruments, including synths, piano, cloudy strings, and astral horns. Its an absolutely distinctive vibe, yet one that fits nicely between the equally conceptual pop of Charli xcx and Caroline Polacheck, both of whom Magdalena Bay have toured with. Theres a stylistically varied, decade-mashing quality to many of the tracks. This is especially evident in the piano-driven "Death & Romance," a hooky anthem that sounds intoxicatingly like early-2000s Kylie Minogue mixed with 80s stadium prog and 90s house production. Similarly evocative, "Love Is Everywhere," with its languid rap and liquid bass, brings to mind an improbable combination of Blondie, the Commodores, and 80s synth pop outfit TPau. Elsewhere, they dive into the gothy yacht rock of "Killing Time" and mix relaxing nature sounds and a majestic baroque pop balladry on "Angel on a Satellite." All of this conjures a romantic, pastel-hued retro-futurism, one where love lingers forever both spiritually and virtually. It has an existential quality, as in "Death & Romance" where Tenenbaum seemingly ponders how we process love through sense memory, singing, "Monday, through an echo/Feels like heaven/Feels like heartache." With Imaginal Disk, Magdalena Bay straddle pop worlds, bringing together a maximalist dance club atmosphere and ecstasy-laced, burning Wicker Man euphoria, all filtered through a dial-up computer dream of the pop future. ~ Matt Collar

Y2K以前のポップ・サウンドに特化した、米国の男女デュオによる2年ぶりのセカンド・アルバム作。80～90年代のシンセ・ポップのいいとこ取りとも言えそうな、多彩でヴィヴィッドなサウンドを万華鏡のように解き放つ。キュートな女性ヴォーカルとプログレな演奏のミスマッチもユニークだし、デビュー当初のMGMTを思わせるサイケ感もあり、全編耳を捉えて離さない。
bounce (C)村上ひさし