Interview: Magdalena Bay Brings Past Nostalgia Into The Future

The members of the experimental synth-pop duo discuss the new deluxe version of their album, tour life, and their current favorite throwback artists.

Written by Caroline Pastrano

Photos by Amelia Tapia

Photo courtesy of Lissyelle Laricchia

From the shiny Y2K-inspired look of their website to the DIY kitsch of their music videos, Mica Tennenbaum and Matthew Lewin of Magdalena Bay have curated a highly intentional aesthetic surrounding their music. The influence of technology clearly plays an important role in their work, but their ‘80s-inspired synth-pop and low-res visuals evoke nostalgia for simpler times. At the same time, they play into a vaporwave-inspired style in dreamy, technicolor photoshoots, and their pondering, existential lyrics inspire speculation on what is yet to come. Throughout the Mercurial World project, the duo has cemented itself as a formidable force in indie pop, and one that is inextricably tied to the hyper-online medium it’s presented through — no matter if it’s looking towards the past or the future.

Afterglow: It’s been nearly a year since the original Mercurial World was released, and it has become quite a hit in the experimental pop world since then. How do you guys feel about the reception to the album?

Matt: I mean, we feel good that people like it. We’re just, keeping our heads down and moving forward, so you know, we try not to get caught up on that.

Mica: Yeah, I mean, we’re just happy we get to do what we’re doing, which sounds cheesy but  we’re on tour right now and it’s just really awesome. We can go out and play shows, and some people will buy tickets, you know?

Afterglow: What inspired the decision to put out the expanded version of the album? Like, was there more you wanted to explore, or was that something you decided after the original was released?

Mica: Yeah! I mean, definitely after the original, but I think it probably started with the two new tracks, “Unconditional” and “All You Do,” which we had written around the time of Mercurial World but we felt didn’t really fit into the album. We wanted to make sure that they got out there, and then we had the idea of a deluxe. We didn’t wanna just put the two new songs at the end, but wanted to make it a little special, so we came up with a way to do different takes on the existing tracks and get a couple of remixes in and make it a little mish mash of takes on stuff, new and old.

Afterglow: When you guys had the idea to have the secrets on the website, was that just like a fun little side project or did you guys have the intention to incorporate that stuff into the music?

Matt: Well, we didn’t know what we wanted to do with the secrets, but we knew we wanted to do something, so I guess it just kind of worked really nicely that we had all these great little pieces.

Mica: Yeah, it was like, ‘(We have) hundreds of secrets, we gotta do something about it.’

Matt: Yeah, and we picked out the ones that sort of tied in with the themes of the songs and stuff and it ended up working out really nicely.

Afterglow: Do you have specific future projects in mind right now? Like, do you know where you’re gonna go after this?

Matt: Nothing specifically, but, well, we obviously like making albums, so we’ll want to keep on making albums. I think right now we’ve been touring a lot, so that’s been keeping us occupied, but in between the videos and the touring and all that, we’ve been trying to just keep writing music.

Afterglow: Do you guys have any idea of what direction you’re gonna want to take with these future projects? Is it going to be the same type of direction as this previous album or are you gonna want to explore more different stuff in the future?

Matt: I mean, I think generally, we try not to do the same thing that we’ve done before, but it’s always hard getting out of your own headspace and your own perspective on how things sound to you versus how they sound to other people.

Mica: Right.

Matt: Yeah, from our perspective, it’s like, ‘oh yeah, this new stuff is completely different,’ but someone else might listen and be like “oh yeah, it sounds like Magdalena Bay,” you know.

Afterglow: So what have been some of your favorite things about working on this project? Have y’all learned anything that has been really cool?

Matt: I feel like we’ve learned so much over the past year.

Mica: I mean, over a year, between starting to write the album, and the whole rollout, and all that, I think we learned that we really like making albums, and we really like making visuals. We like directing videos and creative directing. The album was really fun, we enjoyed building the whole world around it, so that’s something we’ll probably keep doing with future projects.

Matt: Yeah, I guess outside of the music itself, we’ve learned that it’s really important for us to curate the rest of the experience.

Afterglow: Are there any artists the two of you have been excited about recently, or any new releases?

Matt: Oh man, you’re asking the wrong people. We’re pretty out of the new music world right now, I guess. I mean, we go in and out of it, and I think sometimes we’re really in tune with new stuff, but recently we’ve just been listening to, I guess our comfort stuff, so more seventies music.

Afterglow: Yeah, that makes sense, I imagine you’re really busy with the tour and everything. So then what are some of your favorite comfort artists that you’re listening to right now?

Mica: I mean, Steely Dan.

Matt: Yeah, it’s always Steely Dan. Something I can put on, and not think, you know.

Mica: Yeah, actually, on the road, we’ve been going through Pink Floyd’s entire discography. It’s been a while since we really listened to them. So, which album are we on right now? We just finished Atom Heart Mother.

Matt: Yeah, we just finished Atom Heart Mother. So we’re getting into the good stuff.

Afterglow: Is there anything else you guys would want fans to know about your music, or anything just in general?

Mica: Well obviously, we’re playing shows, so if you’d like to, you can come to our shows. Okay, I think this is as much information as we’re willing to give away.

You can follow Magdalena Bay on Instagram and Twitter. Listen to their music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.