umberlune

umberlune

(uhm-ber-loon)

Short Bio

umberlune: Spooky Acoustic Spooky Electric

umberlune is an indie singer-songwriter 

With nuanced guitar, knock-your-socks-off vocals, and whistling solos, the stories she sings are vivid, lyrical vignettes that go deep and then stick around for awhile. At times dark or melancholy, often whimsical, and always honest, these songs are undeniably relatable. You'll catch yourself singing them days later!

Long Bio

umberlune: Spooky Acoustic Spooky Electric 

Raised in both Montreal and Ottawa, indie singer-songwriter umberlune now calls Perth, Ontario home. The small town inspired her first single, Ghosts of 1816, which tells the story of the early residents of Perth. The song was written for a Stewart Park Festival contest to mark the town’s 200th anniversary. “I blew the deadline — I didn’t even get to enter it!” she said with a laugh in a recent interview with Adam Weekes on Lake88. Despite missing the chance to have the song heard in 2016, umberlune felt that it was the right track to lead the release of her first full-length album, Pretty Little Bones. 

Recorded and mixed by producers John Innes and Nicholas Boone at Vibration Studios Inc. (Osgoode) and TrenchAudio (Arnprior), then mastered by Ottawa’s Phillip Victor Bova, Pretty Little Bones is an Ontario album that doesn’t need big city slick to capture your attention. The songs draw stylistically from multiple genres, including folk, blues and rock. Nuanced guitar makes way for stirring vocals. The stories are rich, lyrical vignettes that go deep and then stick around for a while. At times dark or melancholy, often whimsical and always honest, these songs are undeniably relatable. You’ll catch yourself humming them days later! 

Pretty Little Bones marks, in some ways, a bit of a broadening from the solo acoustic sound that umberlune developed starting over a decade ago. Half the songs on the album are full band arrangements featuring electric guitar, bass and drums, provided by the aforementioned producers and Perth drummer Corey W. Lonesome. Ghosts of 1816 also features Perth’s Town Crier Brent McLaren, and award-winning Ottawa bagpiper Matt Shepheard! 

The album cover art, a portrait of umberlune, was created by Perth painter (and also music artist) Alida Sont. She is credited in the liner notes with the statement: I knew you would understand when I asked for “beautiful intricate bone things, hair and magic”! Indeed, bones nestled in swirling hair are magical, but the real magic is in the eyes. You can’t stop looking at them! They invite you in, but also challenge you to really see what’s going on in her head. The pretty little bones are the pieces, the parts, the shards of thoughts, dreams and memories, that become songs. 

Pretty Little Bones launched officially at a release party in May 2023, at Bridge Masters Brewing Company in Perth. Situated right next to a metal truss bridge built in 1889, it’s the perfect spot for an album that acknowledges the ghosts of the town where it was written.