The Daily Spin, December 10
Magdalena Bay | Mercurial World
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: Mercurial World (2021)
Artist: Magdalena Bay
Link:
Remember how, in our review for Pixar’s Elemental, most all of us referenced the near total disappointment we felt regarding the marketing for that movie? How it was something so much more complex and enjoyable than the trailers led us to believe, trading mockery for a rather heartfelt immigrant story?
That’s kind of how I feel about Magdalena Bay - through the seventy layers of irony that seemingly every bit of promotion is folded within, it becomes extremely challenging to really care about the story that this group is weaving - made even more disappointing at the pretty decent electropop lurking under it all.
Somewhere between the vaporwave of The Midnight and HOME, the oddstep of Flume, and the hyperpop of Charli XCX, Magdalena Bay embody everything and nothing with their sound - for being objectively pretty non-standard, a lot of this music feels like it’s been stapled to the industry standard. By attempting to be everything - there are hints of MGMT, Caroline Polachek, even folks like SOPHIE and Slayyyter - Magdalena Bay feels simultaneously like something new and nothing at all.
I find myself wanting something more from this album, but the lack of cohesive identity makes it hard to pinpoint what exactly it is that I’m trying to find. Maybe that’s the problem.
Rating: 8.0/10
Best Tracks: Chaeri; Follow The Leader
Worst Tracks: You Lose!; Domino