Written by Steven Burgess
On October 14th, Magdalena Bay sold out Houston’s House of Blues as they embarked on their Imaginal Disk tour. Lead vocalist Mica Tenenbaum and guitarist Matthew Lewin played their most recent record, Imaginal Disk, in its entirety while including throwbacks and an unreleased song in the mix.
An hour before the show started, Mica and Matt held a preview set consisting of stripped-back vocals and instrumentation. The duo ended up playing 2 songs: “Star Eyes” and “Hysterical Eyes.” Mica’s raw vocals were just as powerful as they are during the show; it was a beautiful and intimate experience to hear these songs with 80 other people. In between these stripped-back songs, Mica and Matt held a Q&A and touched on a variety of topics: their experience performing at Austin City Limits (ACL) this year, the post-production stage of the upcoming Imaginal Disk film, and visiting Benihana in Houston before the show. The pair both talked about their favorite songs to play on tour (Mica: Vampire in the Corner; Matt: The Ballad of Matt and Mica), and Mica had cited Argentine artist Charly García as a major influence. My favorite parts of this interaction were how down-to-earth Mica and Matt came across, reserved yet sweet.
An hour after the pre-show performance, the opener, Oxis, came on stage to perform her set. Oxis is a one-woman band. Her set consisted of a mix of electronic and pop, alternating between synthetic and live instrumentation. On stage, she would record live loops and sing over a drum machine. Oxis was truly a fascinating artist, somehow managing to relate all her songs to fish (“Piranha," “Flounder,” “Goldfish”). The range of her voice, specifically the use of falsetto, was effective, and the crowd was really receptive to her. A moment that stands out from this set was her cover of “Mr. Brightside,” which had everyone singing along and still managed to be related to fish, with Oxis stating to the crowd that the song was an ode to long sardines, the “potato chip of the sea.”
Once Oxis closed out her set, the stage crew pulled back these massive black curtains to reveal the stage Magdalena Bay was about to perform on. The best way to describe this set was a mix of Peewee’s Playhouse and Alice in Wonderland on acid. The stage included a 2-floor set-up, a multi-dimensional living room, a portal to another world, and a wall consisting of a tapestry filled with clouds and a blue sky.
When the lights dimmed and Magdalena Bay had started their set, it felt like the audience had been dropped off on a different planet. Matt came onto stage with an all-red outfit and Mica wearing a blue jumpsuit in the style of an intergalactic ABBA member. As the pair started to play through their set, one didn’t even need the visuals to experience the sonically dense and colorful world of instrumentation Magdalena Bay had to offer. Many of the songs performed were incredibly textured, with songs such as “Tonguetwister” and “Tunnel Vision” having insanely visceral and complex instrumental breaks. Between songs, Matt would seamlessly switch between bass and guitar, with every few songs performing a guitar solo that would entrance everyone in the crowd from “You Lose!” to “Dreamcatcher.”
Mica had a phenomenal stage presence throughout the entire show: skipping around the stage, constantly jumping, spinning, and interacting with the audience and set pieces on stage. Not only was her voice on point, but her performance was elevated by the theatrical elements of her showmanship. Mica would play a character on stage and perform these mini monologues, inviting the audience to experience the next song with her. Songs felt more like scenes from a psychedelic Broadway play. Throughout the show, she ended up having multiple costume changes: a red jumpsuit with planets pinned onto her, multiple masks, a translucent cape made from fake flames after the instrumental break of “Cry for Me,” and a blue ballerina outfit with angel wings during “Angel Satellite.”
Some of the strongest musical moments of the show consisted of the sheer power of Mica’s vocals on songs like “Love is Everywhere,” the instrumental passages on “Cry for Me” and “The Beginning,” and when the duo played an unreleased song called “Paint Me a Picture.” I was also taken aback by many of the visuals displayed on the portal, like the huge clock ticking during “Killing Time” and the Claymation portions of “That’s My Floor.”
There are very few artists with the ability to create as immersive a show as Magdalena Bay. The theatrical capabilities of the Imaginal Disk tour were the musical equivalent of experiencing a Meow Wolf exhibition – endlessly creative and colorful. The ambitious vision behind this tour exceeded every expectation I had walking through the doors of the House of Blues. The set design, costuming, and visuals alone were incredible, but the showmanship displayed by Matt, Mica, and the backing band propelled the show to a different level. Experiencing the show with fans dressed up, singing along, and bringing top energy made this performance a privilege to experience. I will think about this show weeks after I experienced it and still have a vivid image of the set, the grandeur of the sound, and how they made me feel like I could float.