Features Umber

There’s little other way of describing Umber’s music apart from ‘unbelievably beautiful’. The soft, seeping wall of light atmospherics crash against timidly applied notes on an acoustic guitar, the occasional crash of echo-soaked pianos; it’s as if post-rock’s found its hiding place, wearing a smile and closing its eyes for the very first time.

The word “umber” derives from the Latin word Umbra, meaning shadow. Indeed, the songs this one man producer exposes to us are little more than the shadows that lead us; there’s something both subtle and in a not-sickening way, spiritual, about this music. It’d comprised of several electronic elements, but it couldn’t sound any more natural if it tried.

Umber’s collection of 2011 productions exposes a man in exceptional form. Every soft, lullaby-like instrumental piece washes over you with all the others; although seemingly recorded over separate times, the songs combined could make an astonishing mini-album. You get the sense that within this artist is something momentous, something with the potential to be as heartbreakingly beautiful as a closing scene in your favourite film, or the centrepiece of a Sigur Ros album. In ‘Day We Left for Earth’, Umber seems to have almost fulfilled his promise immediately: Sedated but intoxicating, it seizes you with a warm, rich combination of guitars and pianos, softly hypnotising you into the finest slumber of your life. Eyes closed, few things around you to absorb your attention, little on your mind; those are the ideal conditions for listening to the ambience created by Umber.

2011 by umber