Over the course of an hour, Mica Tenenbaum metamorphosed on stage. First cloaked in blue, then blooming into a sunflower, mutating into a monster, finally, she emerged an angel.
Duo Magdalena Bay delivered a mind-bending show at the Ladybird stage on Saturday afternoon at Austin City Limits Festival. Performing a 14-song setlist, eleven of those tracks came from their most recent album, Imaginal Disk. True to the record’s hyperdigital and surrealist music videos, the album’s story unfolded alongside a lysergic stage set.
Joined by drummer Nick Villa and keyboardist Myles Sweeney, the Argentine couple opened with the album hit, “Image.” Lead singer Tenenbaum matched her character’s outfit in the song’s music video, a two-piece satin blue set –– the only differing component being a pair of shades. Her boyfriend and the other half of the duo, Matthew Lewin, contrasted her, wearing an all-red outfit.
After “Secrets (your fire),” a track off their previous album Mercuirial World, the band continued with the latest record’s “Death & Romance.” As the song started up, Tenenbaum ripped off her sunglasses to reveal her face’s upper half painted light blue and nails to match.
With the same seamless studio transition into “Fear, sex,” this moment represents a turning point in the storyline –– when Tenenbaum’s character, True, receives a procedure to insert an Imaginal Disk in her forehead to reprogram herself. Tenenbaum acted out this moment on stage, screaming and wailing as the band launched into the track’s crashing instrumental, the music video’s mildly gory portrayal playing on screen soon after.
A mood shift followed as the band played the album’s next song, “Vampire in the Corner.” Tenenbaum put on a sunflower mask, framing her face with cloudy blue skies displayed on screen. Her body wilted like a flower before soon ripping the mask off as the song intensified.
Next came “Watching T.V.” and “Tunnel Vision,” both songs complemented by striking visuals and performances on stage. During the latter, Tenenbaum put on a monster mask and contorted her face on beat with wailing guitar shrieks.
A complete 180, “DiskInserted?”, followed — an entirely instrumental interlude featuring twinkling chimes and melodic guitar tunes.
Nearly every song invited a new costume change. For the final track off Imaginal Disk, True emerged dressed in a light blue body suit and angel wings, ascending beyond the need for “DiskInsert(ion).”
The band closed out with a final two songs, new release “Second Sleep” and “The Beginning” from their 2021 album. Both tracks carried a lighter tone, with cityscapes on screen that morphed into fractals, and one more digital distortion to round off the set.
“Hey ACL! We’ve come all this way to be here, together, with you!” Tenenbaum said. “We’ve made this moment eternal!”
