Magdalena Bay, live review: Art pop duo deliver beguiling, exceptional performance at O2 Academy in Leeds

The Barcelona festival was renowned for having three era-defining female headliners who are dominating the pop landscape, and if Magdalena Bay’s set was anything to go by, they could easily fit into that fold in the coming years.

The consistently brilliant tunes, engrossing visual spectacle and frenzied response from the neon painted and mobile phone clasping crowd all added to a sense that we could struggle to catch the group in a setting of this size in the future.

The duo of singer Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin were bringing their Imaginal Mystery Tour to the O2 Academy in Leeds in support of their magnificent second album ‘Imaginal Disc’, which was released to immense acclaim last year.

The 55-minute record of sensational subversive pop draws on elements of synth pop, disco, ambient and techno and is carried along by Mica’s tantalising vocals and delightful melodies.

A loose concept album about protagonist True’s voyage of self-discovery after her body rejects a CD inserted into her forehead, the record is played from start to finish here, with other tracks smattered in between, and is visually delivered with the assistance of props, kitschy visuals and Mica’s five or so costume changes.

It means that, after receiving a huge ovation from the largely Gen Z crowd in the audience, there’s an early outing for fourth track and high point Image and its unerring electro pomp, but it’s testament to the album’s structural quality and the group’s assurance in it that they stick to the script.

And the album tracks only seem to get better responses as the set goes on, with the amazing Watching TV’s and its disintegrating, otherworldly outro, which has a colossal refrain of “It’s time to meet the monsters inside you”, getting a deserved roar of applause. Fortunately we had moved from our initial spot at the back of the room where the sound quality was markedly dimmed and could feel its full force.

It serves as a critical half way point in the record and from then on it’s all revelations and joy, and so it goes in the live setting too. The following track Tunnel Vision is a breeze of electro delight and That’s My Floor! sees Mica, who is a magnetic presence of contorting movement throughout, at her most commanding as the crunchy stomp gets the room in party mode.

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Non-album tracks also serve their purpose, with Secrets (Your Fire), which has a Dr Dre-like beat and swagger to it, an early highlight and Chaeri getting the crowd involved - something that’s missing somewhat amid all the Imaginal Disc immersion - and chanting “three, four, down to the floor/lose control/a little more”. Killshot, a fan favourite that has blown up on TikTok, is also expectantly triumphant with the group mixing between both an original and slowed down, remixed version to engrossing effect.

The set comes together euphorically with the album’s finale of the light, piano-led Angel On A Satellite, which glides gracefully into the dumbfounding joyousness of The Ballad Of Matt and Mica.

Combining the subversive electro essence of Grimes, slight tongue-in-cheek manner of Confidence Man and undeniable pop brilliance of the likes of Kylie, Madonna and Daft Punk, Magdalena Bay are seizing their moment and will certainly be one to watch in the future.