Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio, we’ve been listening to mUmbo’s latest single, Rollin’ Over, released on 2nd December 2022.
We previously reviewed mUmbo’s single, Don’t Even Mind The Rain, earlier this year: an evocative, Celtic-sounding track with some glorious strings moments and a style reminiscent of Goldfrapp.
This latest single, Rollin’ Over, is about cautious optimism. How, no matter what, each day gives you a chance to reset, to make a fresh start. Life is always rollin’ over.
Rollin’ Over gave us the chance to recognise the diversity of this British-based band. It is a more folk/pop style than Don’t Even Mind The Rain. Starting with some distant picked guitar in the introduction, the guitar riff continues throughout the song and becomes positively hypnotic as it progresses.
When Emma’s vocals join the mix, they are unique and interesting to listen to. You can almost hear her smiling as she sings and she has a distinctive vocal technique, similar, we think, to Natalie Imbruglia.
As the song progresses, an extra guitar is added: strumming this time and the drums join the mix after the first verse, carrying the song and uplifting it.
A guitar solo in the middle and in the fade out is reminiscent in both style and tone of Dire Straits and together with the hypnotic picked guitar that is present throughout the track, you are transported into a relaxed state of mind.
This feels like a track which would work well in the background of a TV show and we would urge mUmbo to seek out opportunities for sync.
Ideas from our ears
A boost around 100Hz would thicken up the low end nicely and a small cut around 250Hz in the vocal track would reduce some occasional ‘muddy’ tones produced in the lower register. The picked guitar from the intro has a lot of character in the 4-4.5kHz range so maybe a small cut in this area too. Finally, a light compressor/limiter with maybe ~5dB of make-up gain would add extra warmth to the track as a whole as well as raising the volume to match similar releases.
mUmbo have demonstrated to us their versatility in this latest track. A relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable track with a great message. We urge you to add this track to your playlist.