Hildgaard

This Is The World may just be my favorite of the singles, gives me all of the dopamine.
Nice Day sounds absolutely incredible, but next to This Is The World at almost double the length it feels incomplete. It's lacking some of that signature Magdalena Bay progression - like it's just half a song waiting for a pay-off that never happens. Nonetheless it still serves as a great proof of concept should MagBay ever venture fully into shoegaze.

Very enjoyable, but a step down from Second Sleep and Star Eyes.

Edit: Human Happens was my favorite at firs, took me a few listens to really appreciate Paint Me A Picture but now I like it best of the two. Both incredible tracks, even if they are just a half-step below Second Sleep and the highest highs of Imaginal Disk

Fate of Ophelia made me believe for a just a moment.

Radical Optimism fails in it's lack of cohesion, not in lack of quality. All songs on the album range from great to inoffensive yet enjoyable, but it feels like they were drafted from three different albums. Radical Optimism is certainly far removed from the psychedlic pop sound we were promised in interviews, and that the lead single Houdini showed off so brilliantly.

EDIT: More than a year later I've warmed up to Radical Optimism a little. It remains not the album we were told to ... read more