After a compact disc-shaped object, homonymous with the album, is implanted into her forehead in order to create her ideal self, her body rejects it and she relearns the meaning of being human.

It was supported by four singles—"Death & Romance", "Image", "Tunnel Vision", and "That's My Floor"—released between May and August 2024; three of them were accompanied by Peter Gabriel-influenced music videos that follow the narrative of the album, with the vocalist portraying True.

In 2021, the American duo Magdalena Bay—consisting of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin—released their debut album Mercurial World to critical acclaim.

[7][c] Following a series of social media posts teasing the arrival of new music in 2024,[9] Magdalena Bay announced their second album, Imaginal Disk.

[10] While in the process of the album's creation, they wanted to do something different from Mercurial World, which contained songs with a classical pop structure; they decided to "play with that a little bit".

[8] Additional drum and orchestral parts were respectively recorded at Honeymoon Suite in Los Angeles and IMRSV Studios in Stockholm.

[13][16] Pitchfork's Anna Gaca said that it departs from the optimistic sound of pop in order to adjust to a "cynical and paranoid reality".

[12][17] The title was inspired by Tenenbaum's reading into metamorphosis and her interest in the relationship between these genetic processes and "ideas of self" as they applied to human nature.

Tenenbaum revealed that the lyrics are written from a perspective of a character, whether a hero or a villain, who wants "to be washed free of their sins and reborn as a pure being".

[19] While reviewing the album, AllMusic's Matt Collar described "Angel on a Satellite" as a "relaxing" ballad with baroque pop and nature sounds,[13] also led by an acoustic piano.

[2] It closes the album with a happy ending, and was interpreted by Gaca as an allusion to Tenenbaum's real life and how she arrived with Lewin to Los Angeles.

[14] The lead single from Imaginal Disk, "Death & Romance", marked the duo's first release with Mom + Pop Music, on May 28, 2024.

[27] On June 18, the release was supported by a sci-fi-themed music video directed by Amanda Kramer,[28] extended to contain the song "Fear, Sex".

[4] The announcement of Imaginal Disk on July 10 was accompanied by the reveal of its track listing and the release of the second single "Image", with a video also directed by Kramer.

[33] All the videos follow the narrative of the album,[34] depicting True being chased by a monster,[31] left by a being of light, and implanted with the "Imaginal Disk".

[23] They contain Y2K and vaporwave aesthetics,[11] and were influenced by the music videos of Peter Gabriel, the films Flash Gordon (1980) and House (1977), and the artistry of Shana Moulton.

[37][38] Magdalena Bay further promoted the album with the Imaginal Mystery Tour, a concert tour that has passed through North America, Europe, and Australia; it commenced in September 2024[27][39] and is set to conclude in May 2025,[40] with additional performances as part of multiple music festivals, such as Ceremonia in Mexico City and Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

[43] At the tour, the duo played Imaginal Disk in full and in order, interspersing it with other songs from their discography, including some from Mercurial World.

[45][46] On October 30, 2024, Magdalena Bay made their late-night television debut with a performance of "Image" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Slant Magazine's Nick Seip wrote that the "lengthy and ambitious" Imaginal Disk finds them "at their most radical", and lauded it for "in fact heading somewhere".

[16] AllMusic's Matt Collar praised the vibe for being "absolutely distinctive" and compared it to the conceptual pop of Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek.

Kim believed that the concept "isn't strictly important to the album", and it is "more like just a collection of pop songs centered around a common theme".

[14] In a less positive review, Sputnikmusic commended the album's "craft and attention to detail", but considered it to lack depth due to its "over-stimulated [and] disoriented" premise and cursory treatment of its themes.