This blog post has a pretty simple point: I am going to do a STORY BREAKDOWN of MAGDALENA BAY's IMAGINAL DISK. I figured most of this out by conversing with SchrafftVortex (a dear friend), listening to the album many times, and going to the Imaginal Mystery Tour. Incoherent posting ahead. Without further ado...
IMPORTANT CHARACTERS
• True, the primary character throughout Imaginal Disk. Is played by Mica, wearing a blue costume, with a blue face. Lives in True's House, and undergoes the Imaginal Disk procedure.
• Ghost, True's doppelgänger. Is played by Mica, with blonde hair and wearing a white costume. Exists on the other side of the mirror in The Field.
• The Doctor, who performs the Imaginal Disk procedure on True in the Installation Center.
• "The Lover", the loved one who is sung about throughout the album, and appears in music videos played by Matt or as an illusory nondistinct figure.
• "The Bug", a mantis.
IMPORTANT LOCATIONS
• Everywhere on the Imaginal Disk world map. I will refer to locations, characters, events, and objects which occur within this map.
FOREWARD
Imaginal Disk is partly autobiographical, singing about Matt and Mica's life experiences and how they came to be where they are. This is NOT about that, and those parts will be GLOSSED OVER. Gotta limit the scope of this plot analysis. I also will not be analyzing the themes within individual songs. Also, the plot is non-linear and plays with time, and jumps around.
SONG-BY-SONG BREAKDOWN
• She Looked Like Me! begins the story with an autobiographical section. Verse 3, however, is clearly from the perspective of True, seeing her doppelgänger, Ghost, for the first time. True sees Ghost in the mirror in the Field — "we stood mirrored 'till I leaned in" — and then is strangled by Ghost. I think this strangling is metaphorical: True feels like Ghost is the better version of her in every way, and is "strangled", or trapped, by this idealization. And she loves that other version of her. She sees this stifling as "love".
• Killing Time begins with True singing about her life. We know this due to the sheep mentioned in the song being outside True's house, as well as the lyrics being in True's diary. True is, in this song, without love, and living her days empty, feeling like she's wasting them. In the end, however, she's "opening the mirror and swallowing the key". I think this is True giving Ghost the Imaginal Disk, as shown in the Death & Romance music video (which I'll come back to a lot), due to the lyric "swallowing the key", as well as "it only takes a minute, now I'm taking mine". Put a PIN in that.
• True Blue Interlude is an advertisement for the Imaginal Disk procedure. I'm pretty sure of this, due to how it fits neither True nor Ghost's dialogue, for now. Anyways, within the song, there's the phrase "something lies dormant inside and it's been there all along or you've swallowed it or you've spit it out", hence why I think the key True "swallows" is the Imaginal Disk.
• Image is True deciding to go through the Imaginal Disk procedure, and the song takes place while she's waiting. In Killing Time, True said "it only takes a minute, now I'm taking mine", and this song heavily focuses on "22 more minutes", "21 more minutes", and "just a few more minutes". I think True undergoes this wanting to become Ghost, as she says "make me in your image", "through a two-way mirror". Sad stuff!
• Death & Romance and Fear, Sex are the fucking core, guys. The songs themselves is sung from GHOST's perspective, and I'll explain much later. The beginning of the music video depicts Ghost waking up, putting on a laserdisc, and then getting abducted. It then depicts Ghost and her lover kissing, in a spaceship. Put a pin in that! The next scenes depict Ghost's Lover - "The Lover" - coming down from a spaceship, with the guys from the Sky Hub watching on. It then shows The Lover being abducted by the guys from the Sky Hub, in a spaceship. It then shows Ghost alone in a field, when the Mirror opens up next to her, with True on the other side, and True gives Ghost the "key" - the Imaginal Disk. "Through an open door, I'm where I was before" - put a pin it that! She then sees a spacecraft explode overhead, and thinks it's the Lover. "Please don't die alone, overhead", to the Lover, and "Shoulda known those dirty bastards would put wires in your head", to True. True, through time, sent out a distress signal - the mirror, the Imaginal Disk, and it's up to Ghost to help her. And we know this is Ghost, because in True's room, Ghost has written in True's diary "I'll surrender to the voices in the end".
At the end of Fear, Sex, True undergoes the Imaginal Disk procedure, causing her to evolve in some form. This is known because of the music video and this happening during the live show.
• Vampire in the Corner, sung by True, takes place after the Imaginal Disk procedure, with True performing at the Town Square, in the town play. This is known because of the lyric in the bottom right corner, as well as the sunflower costume appearing in the live show. The "Vampire in the Corner" appears to be The Bug, the mantis attacking True.
• Watching T.V. is also sung by True, as the line "take your skin right off and hang it out" appears, and there's a skinsuit hanging outside True's house. Anyways, this song is from the perspective of True, missing Ghost. The Imaginal Disk procedure seems to have pacified True, in a way, as "all that's left to bother me are dreams forgotten in the deep, it's not me".
• Tunnel Vision is sung by True, following in the linear footsteps of Watching T.V. and Vampire in the Corner. The "angels" on the single art are outside the Sky Hub. I do not understand fully how they integrate into the story, but this song is clearly about True seeing, fully and truly, that she can improve herself alone, with the power of love, and that she wants to "Get Out".
• Love is Everywhere is also sung by True, and directly references the angels in the Sky Hub and in Tunnel Vision's single art ("heaven's always watching"). It has True reflecting on her past, saying "I'd turn back, do it right if I could". There's then another voice, saying "bit by bit you shovel it, building an image to judge you for what you did". This *isn't* sung by Mica, and thus might not be sung by True, but it's clearly reflecting on the idea of Ghost. Is this the "angels"? Is this the people inside the Sky Hub? Is this the Lover? I don't know. But, endpoint, the song is the peak of True thinking about love and change, post-Imaginal Disking.
• Feeling Diskinserted mentions "Angel on a Satellite", which will be referenced later. I think this is either sung by True, in advance of what happens in That's my Floor, or sung by Ghost, before Angel on a Satellite. Anyways,
• That's my Floor is where stuff Happens. True has changed into her red, caped form, which she will continue in until the end of Cry for Me, as shown by the live show. In the beginning of the music video, you can see the D-Ejected HQ in the background, where the main portion of this song takes place. We see the Machine Room, with someone who appears to be Ghost inside, and the Bug Room, bringing back The Bug, the mantis from Vampire in the Corner. In the music video, you can see someone that appears to be Ghost and True coming together, along with The Bug, to take Imaginal Disks out of people's heads. However, Ghost doesn't actually appear to be here, and rather just True imagining Ghost as a reflection of herself (as True is operating the machine to de-Imaginal Disk people). At the end of the video, this causes grave effects within those who've been de-Imaginal Disked, and True is sent to The Outskirts. (RFCK reference mfw slime!!)
• Cry for Me is sung by True, going down the road within The Outskirts until she's "atoned for [her] sins." The song is her lamenting her place in the world, atoning for her sins, and asking others to remember her, as she knows she's going away. Notably, at the very, very end, she says "I did it all for you". I think this is likely being sung to Ghost.
At the end of the path, True enters The Cocoon. Within the cocoon, echoes of the True Blue Interlude play. I think, here, is the True Blue interlude's second meaning; it IS the change True wants. So True Blue Interlude, in its truest form, occurs here. The "Interlude" is the cocoon. At the end of the cocoon, one is prompted to "return home", back to True's House, and, as we know, Ghost has been inside True's house. So, in memory, mirror, and membrane, True becomes Ghost. It's been there all along.
After this, I think that the events of She Looked Like Me!, Killing Time, Image, Death & Romance, and Fear, Sex occur for Ghost. In Death and Romance, Ghost sings "through an open door, where I was before", which is her seeing True through The Mirror. I think the Ghost that appears in That's My Floor is merely True's imagination. Could it have been Ghost helping True? Yes. But due to the music video, I think that it's True helping herself, via imagining Ghost.
• Angel on a Satellite is from the perspective of True, as we know via the costume change in the live show. Ghost is singing about the Lover, from the Death and Romance music video, as well as her newfound experience in love. There is likely further meaning, but, I mean. It's beautiful, really.
After Angel on a Satellite, I think the beginning of the Death and Romance video happens. Ghost puts on the Imaginal Disk (as shown via the laserdisc), and then is abducted by an alien. I think this alien is the Lover. After this, I think the Imaginal Disk explodes, due to the "Exploding a CD by spinning it at very high speeds" video in True's Living Room.
• The Ballad of Matt and Mica is Ghost and the Lover, two years after the events of the Death and Romance music video, in love, continuing on in their lives. They're killing time, but it's bang-bang, happy ending. It's great!
So yeah. A story about True, who wants to be her doppelgänger, undergoing an alien procedure which she regrets, and then saves herself from via helping herself, transforming into her doppelgänger, and then her doppelgänger meets a man who gets abducted by aliens, and then the doppelgänger helps her past self, and then goes with her boyfriend to explore the stars. With lots of smaller themes and details in there I did NOT cover.