‘Fringe Benefits’ is one of those songs that grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and made me listen to it three times in a row. Once again mUmbo have curated my kind of music to a T and have done so with ease, and a flawless charm. Indie sounds shoot from mUmbo in a variety of ways across their discography — here, in ‘Fringe Benefits’ the indie comes through in shoegaze vibes, blended with some awesome blues riffs that give me goosebumps just thinking about them. The guitar ushers in the waves of sound. The rolling riff sets the mood, it’s smoky, like a 50s noir flick. The dancers in the back are still, the air hangs around you as the bass comes into view, followed by a vocal that commands your every move.
The song thrives in the verses, creating walkways of vocal splendor and channeling the blues into a fiery passion in the back. The chorus grounds us, it sends us home, only for the bridge to shoot us sprawling out into the bluegrass wilderness once again. Soon you become a mUmbo nomad, one who listens to the sounds and words of the melodic masterminds and finds bliss in their subtleties. ‘Fringe Benefits’ is the gateway into the mUmbo world. It should come with a warning sticker: “Highly addictive, Extremely funky, May induce public dancing.”
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