mUmbo – A Little Life (2024)
Travelling across various musical genres from folk to indie-rock, pop and blues, mUmbo reaches behind style, sound and convention with eclectic obscurity, experimental indulgence, and innovative originality. Drawing together various influences, Doug MacGowan (guitar and bass), Emma Semple (vocals, violin and viola), and Antonio Dale (drums and percussion) prove they are not to be pigeonholed or typecast as musicians. Turning heads across the globe, including ours, mUmbo enthrals audiences far beyond their UK borders. The latest addition to their discography is the single ‘A Little Life’.
After releasing their critically acclaimed 2023 single ‘Red Balloons’, mUmbo took a break focusing on creating music for future sync projects. Today, we take a gander at their first single in over six months, ‘A Little Life’. Recorded and produced by the band, ‘A Little Life’ is not necessarily an evolution in mUmbo’s sound – truthfully, it’s difficult to define their sound at all – but there is diversity in the overall style.
Lilting toward nostalgic pop and folk sounds, ‘A Little Life’ can easily be placed on playlists celebrating the 1970s. With an acoustic-inspired arrangement, the track embraces a soothing, soft, laidback blend of guitars and drums. Sophisticated and elegant, the instruments weave together as a comfortable sonic blanket – one you can curl up and lose yourself in. Yet, while the melody is intriguing, it is Semple’s vocals that add a cuddle to ‘A Little Life’.
Sonically, ‘A Little Life’ is a celebration of life in its warm, flowing hush of indie-folk music; however, mUmbo delves deeper with the profound theme. Tackling identity in reality, mUmbo “muses on the tension between looking at your own life in the context of the bigger picture…” Complex with raw vulnerability, but also celebrating empowerment and weight-lifting freedom, ‘A Little Life’ oscillates between desperation and optimism. I once heard that a person finds happiness in knowing their insignificance. In the grand scheme of things, it might be hard to understand, but ultimately liberating… at least, that’s what I think.
Find out more about mUmbo on their official website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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