Magdalena Bay: Bimbo Robot Music by Drew Rodriguez-Michel

Magdalena Bay: Bimbo Robot Music

Drew Rodriguez-Michel

If you, like I, find yourself scrolling through your saved albums on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music, perhaps searching for the right vibe or perfect length for your Goodhue-to-Weitz walk, look no further and hesitate no longer.

In as fairy-godmother-like a position as possible, I bequeath to you a gem I recently discovered and have taken the liberty to define: bimbo robot music. You heard me. Specifically, a band called Magdalena Bay. Their newest album, Mercurial World (2021), is their claim to fame. In what I can only describe as an electro and synth-pop fusion, this bright, bubbly, and in-your-face album is beautiful from start to finish. Their intense electronic sound, however, is a relatively recent and much-needed development in the scope of their discography.

Image: Billy Bratton

The pop duo Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin began releasing music in 2017 after first meeting as highschoolers. For the majority of their discography, their sound more easily fell under classic and indie pop genres. Think: a very watered down Katy Perry—heavy on vocals, diminished instrumentation, and formulaic song structure. Of course, being new to the industry, their lack of ingenuity was somewhat understandable, but I reserve the right to judge their 2017 single “Neon” as little more than a Garageband beat. In 2018, they began an odyssey of self discovery, experimenting first with the synth. At this point, their niche was the atmospheric vibe that was slowly gaining popularity and soon to be seized by the upand-coming bedroom pop genre (screams in Clairo). Their 2018 single “Waking Up” debuts a variety of glimmery synths to foster the all-too-famous starry sound, and is topped off with lightly auto tuned vocals.

Altogether, the sound is nowhere near full bimbofication. A point of notability, however, is the single’s cover art, which epitomizes the tumblr-girl-to-bedroom-popfan pipeline (it’s time we start talking about it). With newspaper clipping wings, Tenenbaum stands, turned away and oh-so mysterious looking. If nothing else, I give them points for the nostalgia factor this brings.

2019 is a fresh start for the duo, and, by my measure, their biggest jump sonically towards their current sound. Upon listening to their first EP day/pop, I was immediately greeted by a steady synth presence, including both keyboard and guitar. Production-wise, sparse and unfocused synths of earlier singles have been largely replaced by a decidedly 70s and 80s disco sound, and the airier vocals present a small but important departure from previously throatier belts more fitted for mainstream pop hits. Their lyrics are still as cliche as ever, although finally present a cohesive story (obviously one about love). Best off the EP is “Head Over Heels”, which, although I can’t claim to love today, I know highschool sophomore me would have adored.

battle, as Lewin mixes synths with booming beats and catchy hooks to give their songs a brightness previously unheard of. This was the year the duo released a series of mini mixtapes, along with their album A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling, which includes the irresistibly groovy hit “Killshot”. Tenenbaum’s whimsical vocals meld seamlessly with mysterious and other-worldly lyrics for an all-around experimental feel, setting them up beautifully for Mercurial World.

2021 is their year of notoriety. Their album, which was released on October 8, is thoroughly saturated with synths, masterful transitions, and existentialist themes. Starting with “The End” and ending with “The Beginning”, the album offers a unique approach to listening; there is no linear way to engage with it.

Image: Billy Bratton

If you do choose to listen from start to finish, in the second track you’ll find the song “Mercurial World”, vocally reminiscent of Grimes and yeule, and with a production style similar to that of Charli XCX. Next up begins my favorite stretch of the album, with “Dawning of the Season”, “Secrets (Your Fire)”, and “You Lose!” The first offers a typical verse-chorus-verse progression, however the bridge to the song’s last chorus presents a key change that gets you on your feet. The transition between songs could not be more smooth, and in fact will go unnoticed unless you’re paying astute attention to the jazzy synth presence underlying both. “Secrets (Your Fire)”, is indisputably one of their best songs, and likely the catchiest, with the easily learned chorus “Your Fire” repeated just enough to get stuck in your head without becoming an earworm.

With fully bimbo-robotification reached in terms of vocals and array of buzzes, claps, and twinkles to embellish it all, the song, in my opinion, marks their brand: outer-space, romance, and general psychedelia. This beautiful little stretch ends with the bombastic “You Lose!”, rich in intense guitar and synths that keep you coming back for more.

The middle half of the album is less memorable, although “Prophecy” adds a new string component and “Follow the Leader’s” allusion to Alice in Wonderland with the line “Follow the leader, the rabbit,” stays true to the fantastical nature of the album.

Penultimate song “Dreamcatching” is half spoken and half sung, dealing with heavier topics of death and longing. The synths are as bubbly as ever, and a synth solo in the middle of the song contrasts the heaviness of the lyrics, making it easy to enjoy for instrumental sound alone –if that’s more your speed. As a conclusion to the album, this song reinforces Magdalena Bay’s frenetic electronic sound while demonstrating the lyrical potential the duo has yet to fully explore, which I think leaves them with only more room to expand upon in future releases.

And with that you’ve reached the end, or “The Beginning”, really, where Tenenbaum repeats Lewin’s name, it seems waking him from the dream he’s been in. What I love about this most though is the ambiguity it leaves the listener—are you too, dreaming? Was this one big rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland, and if so, begs the question—is anything real?—pulling you back to the line in the first song, “The End”: “Everything comes from and goes to the same place: / Nowhere!” This nihilistic message reminds the listener to not take things so seriously, contextualizing the experimental ‘bimbo robot’ production style and speaking to the general unimportance of life. Don’t worry, they’re saying, life is just a series of happenings. And with that cherry on top, I think no matter if you’re a synth-pop lover, novice philosopher, or someone with a 46-minute Goodhueto-Weitz walking pace, Mercurial World should be your go-to.

NoFi