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Mercurial World
by
Mercurial World Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 30 Ratings

  • Summary: This is the debut full-length release for the Los Angeles-based indie pop duo of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Under The Radar
    Jan 3, 2022
    85
    Their debut is first and foremost a smartly crafted record, full of irresistible melodic hooks and detailed production. The results are all-enveloping and mesmerizing, crafting a glittery pop landscape with plenty of layers to uncover and unexpected new territory to explore with each listen.
  2. AllMusic
    Oct 20, 2021
    80
    That Magdalena Bay also augment their capital "P" pop melodies with industrial textures, shoegaze flourishes, and plenty of funked-out bass grooves means that Mercurial World offers both sugary melodic highs and deeper sonic layers to explore.
  3. PopMatters
    Oct 25, 2021
    80
    Mercurial World is another step in the right direction, adding a cerebral heft (the kind only a full-length collection of songs tends to achieve) to the duo’s winning formula.
  4. Beats Per Minute
    Oct 14, 2021
    74
    Their new album, Mercurial World, is a careful collection of pop tracks that threaten, but never quite, reach a boil.
  5. Exclaim
    Oct 14, 2021
    70
    The record has big, cosmic questions about time and space and possibility swirling 'round its bejewelled head, but it's at its best when putting these concepts under a microscope.
  6. The Guardian
    Oct 14, 2021
    60
    That tension between sweetness and distortion lurches across the album, coming together best in Chaeri, a gothic house devotional to a destitute friend. Tenenbaum seems to writhe through her agonies as she wonders whether she could have done more.
  7. Sputnikmusic
    Oct 15, 2021
    58
    Mercurial Bay is bland and overpolished and probably insecure and definitely destined to make mincemeat of fickle hearts all over the web. It is good and shiny like an overviewed but freshly refiltered Instagram photo of a Hollywood sunset.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. AmosLeezy
    Oct 19, 2021
    10
    Absolutely solid pop album, songs are catchy and it got great production, one of the best pop album of 2021
  2. fr0ggi3
    Feb 21, 2022
    10
    Mercurial World is nothing short of captivating. There are some moments that don't hit quite as hard, but the rest of the album makes up forMercurial World is nothing short of captivating. There are some moments that don't hit quite as hard, but the rest of the album makes up for those few lacking seconds. It was easily the best pop album of 2021.… Expand
  4. aaedenn
    Dec 30, 2021
    9
    Very solid debut album. I am not normally a fan of the electronic stuff but this album was so experimental that it worked. The way this albumVery solid debut album. I am not normally a fan of the electronic stuff but this album was so experimental that it worked. The way this album opens and ends, top to bottom, is quite frankly amazing. There were weak points but for a debut album, they're not terrible by any stretch. Sonically, it was a good pop album and it made me move around in my chair listening to it. Honestly, it's a solid debut album that is easily one of the best albums of the year. Overall, a 9.2/10.… Expand
  5. PrizzBeam1
    Nov 17, 2021
    8
    This is a great album! Heard some stuff through the grapevine on YouTube and Reddit about this album, and decided to check it out. This isThis is a great album! Heard some stuff through the grapevine on YouTube and Reddit about this album, and decided to check it out. This is great! I've listened to it about five times and just bought it on CD, it's one of my favorite albums of 2021 so far. It's a beautiful experience, you get taken to another world with this album. It starts great and ends great, although I'd say it sags a bit in the middle, and I'm not a fan of the track Follow The Leader. Would've been a 10 if it wasn't for those little critiques. Check it out if you're a fan of Random Access Memories by Daft Punk or Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by M83.

    Favorite tracks- Mercurial World, You Lose!, Dreamcatching
    Least favorite track- Follow The Leader    … Expand
  6. AShinyG1ratina
    Jun 21, 2022
    7
    The Great 2021 Re-Listen - Part 1: Magdalena Bay's Mercurial Soundscapes
    Hi guys, so I'm doing a re-listen to all of my 77+ rated albums of    The Great 2021 Re-Listen - Part 1: Magdalena Bay's Mercurial Soundscapes
    Hi guys, so I'm doing a re-listen to all of my 77+ rated albums of 2021 before the year ends. The first album I decided to relisten to was Magdalena Bay's highly-touted debut album, Mercurial World. While I did 100% understand the appeal on my first couple of listens, something wasn't quite clicking for me like things tend to do with great albums, so I ended up rating this below an 80, at a respectable score of 79.
    I must've been malding from playing Smash or something that day because holy **** did it click on my re-listen. This is almost exactly the vibes I was expecting to get out of the new Porter Robinson album but with absolutely none of the Porter-isms that made me not like it as much as I wanted to. The writing here is whimsical, bittersweet, and lovely. The production is surreal and takes advantage of some of the most wildly beautiful soundscapes I've heard all year. The best examples of this would probably be my three favorite songs on the album, which are Secrets (Your Fire), You Lose!, and Chaeri.
    Something that I definitely didn't appreciate until this re-listen was how great the vocals from Mica Tenenbaum are. They add even more grace to a soundscape that's so other-worldly where you have to do several double-takes per song to make sure you're getting the full picture.
    One thing I want to note is how busy this album is, an aspect that makes it so much more interesting than 99% of the other chillwave albums I've heard. Magdalena Bay's producer, Matthew Levin, isn't afraid at all to incorporate concepts that are incredibly alien to a genre like chillwave such as volume dynamics and overactive basslines. Synthpop producers seem to have an irrational fear of their music being loud, a trait that Levin, thankfully, doesn't share. Some of the synth and string swells on this thing are absolutely orgasmic.

    Yeah, I don't really know what I was missing the first time I heard this. Hopefully there are more albums like this that just click with me on second listen during this event.

    Best Tracks: Dawning of the Season, Secrets (Your Fire), You Lose!, Chaeri, Hysterical Us, Domino, Dreamcatching

    Worst Tracks: Something for 2, Follow the Leader

    Score Change: +5    … Expand
  7. rosaborjasnunez
    Nov 2, 2021
    0
    Nada memorable, creí que traerían nuevas cosas pero su álbum anterior es por mucho mejor.
  8. zebraqz
    Nov 2, 2021
    0
    Siento que ninguna canción es un Hit en el futuro, tiwne buena producción pero nada más.

See all 8 User Reviews

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