Following a highly creative and productive period in 2022, which saw the band’s profile rise rapidly through widespread international radio play and the indie music press, alternative rock band mUmbo, based between the UK and Italy, drops their 5th single and 1st release of the year, 'Sky Is Blue'. In this indie dream-pop single, mUmbo explores the permutations, atmospheres, and textures of vocals, guitars, and drums/percussion with a sonic palette ranging from ethereal, chilled soundscapes to guitar-driven modern blues/rock and psychedelic progressive rock. One of the main aims of the song is to create a very dense, vibey, sensory quality to connect directly with the listener. ‘Sky is Blue’ is a song about the human condition and the wider world—a desire to escape what holds us back and to reach for a blue sky with brand new starts and perspectives.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello mUmbo. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Our greatest strength collectively is that we are all very much feel players and have good ears. We really listen to each other and play off what each other is doing. So in other words, our music is very much a collaborative creation rather than an ego-driven project. The song always comes first.
What is your dream project?
At the moment what we are working towards is pursuing placing our music for sync on television and film. We love creating atmosphere and pictures and creating emotional soundscapes with our music.
Your latest track is 'Sky Is Blue'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Our previous single ‘Rollin’ Over’ was a more driven, hook-based song. ‘Sky Is Blue’ is an aural departure from that and we were aiming to create a dreamlike, immersive vibe that the listener can get lost in. As always with us, the tracks evolved over time between the UK and Italy.
What makes you angry?
‘Sad’ is maybe a better word than ‘angry’. The world at the moment is a very upsetting place for many people at the moment on a personal and global level.
What is the most surprising fact you’ve learnt about yourself?
In relation to music, it has been a pleasant discovery to find out how motivated, persistent and focused we are on continuing to do what we love, as the music business is often a very harsh and dispiriting experience.
What do you dislike about your work?
There is nothing we dislike about the actual creative process, but the physical distance between the three of us in the band (with Doug and Emma living 100 miles apart and Antonio our drummer living in Italy) makes the whole process that much harder and protracted.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Many people have written to us asking when they can come and see us play live. Not living in the same country creates something of an obvious problem, but we’re working on a way to solve this. So, hopefully soon we will be able to take our music out and actually meet people rather than just receiving lovely emails.
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
One of the great things of playing in a band is that all your successes and disappointments are shared, which goes a long way towards alleviating the very real struggles and sometimes loneliness that all artists are bound to experience.
What do you think is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen or experienced?
In terms of our music, as a band we find the creative process a very beautiful and mysterious gift. Individually we all have very different talents and strengths. The joy of mUmbo is that those disparate talents all merge and work together seamlessly. We feel very lucky and blessed about that.
What are your plans for the future?
Going forward, it is continuing to write music and release our singles and videos. We already have 2 more singles lined up and our next release ‘Fringe Benefits’ is a rockier track with a strong retro vibe. We are also keen to play live in both our countries and as said before, we are very interested to open up our music to a much wider audience through television and film syncing.