Talk:Imaginal Disk

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Imaginal Disk/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: CatchMe (talk · contribs) 08:25, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Dylan620 (talk · contribs) 12:17, 29 December 2024 (UTC)

This was one of my favorite albums of 2024 and I'm quite pleased to see its article at GAN. I should be able to start looking at this in the next five to seven days. Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 12:17, 29 December 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, one of mine too, no doubt. Thanks for taking this review! CatchMe (talk · contribs) 17:42, 29 December 2024 (UTC)

@Dylan620: Pinging since it's been more than a week. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 12:27, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi CatchMe, I'm sorry for running a bit late with the review. I'm nearly finished and should be posting it tonight or in the morning. Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 22:39, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

No need to apologize :) CatchMe (talk · contribs) 22:45, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

OK, I'm finished with the review, and while the pieces are generally in place for a GA, I feel like this article still needs a little more work to meet the criteria. I'm going to put the nomination on hold to allow for the following concerns to be addressed:

• Prose: The writing is generally good, but I did notice some issues, including a few hiccups with structure and flow that occasionally made the article a little difficult to read. Going section by section:
  • Lede
    • Musically, Imaginal Disk has been categorized as a... – I think replacing "has been categorized as" with just "is" would work better; it's more concise and has the added benefit of putting the sentence in active voice.
    • the album received universal acclaim from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic – I perceive a couple problems with this. First, I think this is a little too detailed for the lede; just mentioning that the album was critically acclaimed, while relegating the detail about how the album met Metacritic's definition of "universal acclaim" to §Critical_reception (where Metacritic is already mentioned), should suffice. Second, putting two wikilinks right next to each other (in this case review aggregator and Metacritic) should generally be avoided per MOS:SEAOFBLUE.
  • Background
    • consisted of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin – Suggest replacing "consisted" with "consisting", which flows better without implying that Magdalena Bay are no longer active. Later in this sentence, I don't think the final comma is necessary.
    • Not hinging the review on this, but if you can find a source to support it, I think it could be worth mentioning that the "next phase" announcement foreshadows a lyric in "True Blue Interlude".
      • It would be interesting, but I can't find anything... CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Writing and recording
    • their home studio, referred to – Recommend adding "which is" after the comma, just to make 100% clear that "Mag Bay HQ" is referring to the studio and not the album.
  • Music and concept
    • It is probably worth mentioning in the prose that the "what it means to be human" comes from the band, as alluded in the cited Pitchfork article.
  • Songs
    • Nothing about "Feeling DiskInserted?"?
      • Added a comparison by Anna Gaca, which was all I could find in the reviews or a google search... CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
    • There are several quotes which, if they are going to stay in the article, should be attributed in the prose: "lounge-y", "longer, melodramatic", "deep vibe", "lushly psychedelic", "to be washed free of their sins and reborn as a pure being", "relaxing"
      • "deep vibe" itself is a rather vague quote which, without any elaboration, I'm not sure adds any meaningful context to "Fear, Sex"
    • The album opens with "She Looked Like Me!", build on a dance rhythm – I'm assuming build should be built instead?
    • The sentence that describes "True Blue Interlude" and "Image" is rather clunky and could probably be broken in two.
    • The song deals with the love of a person to another no matter how it hurts is also pretty clunky I'm afraid. Might I suggest rewording as "The song is about loving a person even when it hurts to do so"?
    • I assume with bassline is missing an a?
    • has a disco production marked by the use of Theremin – I'm open to being corrected, but I don't think theremin is a proper noun.
    • By this point in the article, Lil Yachty hasn't been mentioned for a little while, so it might not hurt to link him again.
    • About its theme, Magdalena Bay said that it is about – The "about its theme" clause is redundant.
    • Should be clarified whether more "moody and dramatic" is referring to "Cry for Me" or "Dancing Queen". As someone familiar with both songs, I'd place my bet on the former, but with the way this is currently worded in the article, we can't guarantee that a reader unfamiliar with one or both songs would draw the same conclusion.
    • Another MOS:SEAOFBLUE issue arises with baroque pop and ballad being linked right next to each other.
    • That last sentence... Tenenbaum arrived in LA to work with Lewin? I thought they grew up in Miami together?
    • Not hinging the review on this, but if you can find (a) source(s) to back it up, then it might be worth mentioning that in addition to the closer, the opener's melody is also reprised in "Love Is Everywhere" and "Feeling DiskInserted?".
      • The reliable sources not perceiving some details...again, couldn't find it. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Release and promotion
    • a concert tour that passed through North America, Europe, and Australia from September 2024 to May 2025 – This should be reworded to get May 2025 out of the past tense.
    • Magdalena Bay made their late-night television debut with a live performance of "Image" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! – I don't think the first live is necessary. The word performance and the title of the TV show both imply that the rendition of "Image" was live.
  • Critical reception
    • For Paste, Eric Bennett – I think adding "in a review" or even just "writing" in front of "for" would aid the flow.
    • Was Magdalena Bay's style ... praised or was Imaginal Disk's style praised?
  • Rankings
    • There's a singular-plural conflict in the first sentence, as a top-10 position is followed by mentioning multiple publications that put the album in their top 10 of 2024.
• Images: File:Magdalena Bay 09-24-24.jpg needs alt text, but otherwise everything checks out. That image is the original work of the uploader and is appropriately licensed for Creative Commons. The album cover has appropriate alt text and a valid fair use rationale.
• Sources: I ran a spot check of refs 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 29, 30, 34, 37, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 52, 54, 56, and 58. Most of them check out, but I did pick up a couple issues with source-text integrity:
  • Ref 9: I am not sure if the source supports the statement that the album's music videos were primarily influenced by Peter Gabriel music videos. While the band mentions Gabriel as a visual influence in the cited source, they don't single him out as the main influence above at least three other sources of inspiration.
  • Ref 43: The article states that [the tour] received positive reviews from The Guardian and The Line of Best Fit, but The Guardian's review reads as more mixed than positive. The reviewer praises Tenenbaum's performances, but expresses that the reviewed concert could have given more context to the album's concept – see the paragraph beginning with "In this live presentation".
    • I added "mostly" since it's still 3 out of 5 stars. But let me know if I should remove it or specify the opinion. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
      • @CatchMe: That should work for now. Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 13:39, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
  • Additionally, the vast majority of refs used in §Rankings are either lacking authors or, in the case of ref 61, have the incorrect author.
    • Should I add all the authors in the list or just the one in Imaginal Disk? CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
      • @CatchMe: What I mean is that for each year-end list where Imaginal Disk or its songs appeared, the citation should use the author of the relevant blurb. For example, Evan Sawdey is credited as the writer of the album's entry in the PopMatters year-end album list (ref 25 at time of writing). Ref 61 – The Forty-Five's year-end album list – credits Hollie Geraghty as the writer of the Imaginal Disk blurb. The Uproxx album list (ref 53) credits Grant Sharples as the blurb writer (though the blurb only gives Sharples's initials, you can find his full name farther up by searching '— G' within the page). Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 13:39, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
        • Yes, I meant to ask that. Thank you for the information and I will keep that in mind for the future. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 13:57, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
  • One last thing: I don't know if this is a requirement for GA or just for featured content, but I would advise making sure that all of the ref titles are consistently in either sentence case or title case, regardless of how they originally appear.
    • Will fix this shortly. I worked on this article before other user told me that. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 23:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
• No issues with neutrality nor stability, and I also could not detect any issues with copyright.

This may seem like a lot, but I feel like most of these issues are either minor or easily fixable. You've done a lot of great work here, CatchMe. Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 20:20, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

@Dylan620: I believe I adressed all of your comments. How does the article look now? CatchMe (talk · contribs) 13:57, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

@CatchMe: We're almost there. I have just a couple more comments:

• The dreamy interlude of the album, "True Blue", that has a similar vibe to infomercials. – I appreciate that you split up the previous sentence, but I suggest rewording this portion because as it currently stands, it isn't grammatically correct. Maybe something like "True Blue Interlude" is a dreamy interlude that has a similar vibe to infomercials?
• There is still one more sea-of-blue issue at the start of §Critical_reception – this section of a featured article has a good example of how to handle the wording so the phrases Metacritic and review aggregator aren't linked right next to each other.

That's just about it, I think. Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 16:40, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

@Dylan620: Done. I retained the review aggregator link which I think is useful, and added the ADM score if that's ok. If this is it, thanks a lot for the review! As I said, I will be keeping some things in mind or going back to this in future occasions for other articles. Let me know if I have to fix other things. CatchMe (talk · contribs) 19:01, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

@CatchMe: Yeah, that works for me. I think we're good here – closing with a pass. Great work again! Dylan620 (he/him • talk • edits) 20:38, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Re: Listed genres

Psychedelia is not only listed as one of the sourced genres, but it's also extremely clear when listening to the album itself that one of its main genres is psychedelic pop in addition to synth-pop and electronic rock; in fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's way more of a psychedelic pop album than an electronic rock album. SlabBulkhead (talk) 02:35, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

Album movie section?

According to multiple sources, Magdalena Bay is working on an album movie:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/magdalena-bay-are-working-on-an-imaginal-disk-film-3887114

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/how-magdalena-bay-turned-their-concept-album-into-a-live-sci-fi-spectacle

https://floodmagazine.com/214315/building-worlds-with-magdalena-bay-flood-13-cover-story/ Charldeonfls (talk) 13:32, 25 December 2025 (UTC)