ÚMBRIEL (also James' musical persona), says 'Renegade' is an exploration of his past, where his queer identity and relationships with loved ones and family began to collide.
The Brisbane-based artist says the new single is a very different venture, and looks back on the release of 'HIM'.
“I was really nervous to do my first release. . . I think I had a lot of self-consciousness around my voice at that time. I was writing songs that I loved but I was really nervous to put them out there,” ÚMBRIEL says.
“I worked with this amazing producer called Nick O’Donnell and he just really dug the tracks and said 'let’s do this'. It was sort of on a whim, on a drunk phone call!”
ÚMBRIEL says he feels much more confident in the quartet's new sound, but they’re continuing to challenge themselves by stripping away the comfort of theatricality.
“This is a very big change for me. My tendency is to lean towards the theatrical and the dramatic and this song is something that’s completely not like that at all.”
“This song is about things that happened to me in my childhood and growing up queer but also the impact that had on my relationship with friends and family, and the impact that had on me after. . . Specifically the relationship I had with my mother.”
“She was always very nurturing and a wonderful mother, and after I came out she was still very loving and accepting but there was this drift. I think that was more to do with me figuring out who I was and reflecting on things that happened in my childhood with a different view because I was now looking through the lens of ‘what was it like to raise a queer child’.
“Even as a queer kid, you can still be very self-involved. You think about you and what people are doing to you. . . But I thought actually having a single mother who had no reference point for me being queer at that time, what did that mean to her?”
ÚMBRIEL explains that while sharing these intimate details about life can be terrifying, it feels like a moment in time that needs to be shared with the world.
“This time is different for me. There’s no theatrical mask to hide behind, I’m not really speaking in metaphor, this is what happened and this is how I felt.
“I think we live in this world where the personal is political and the most effective ways of making change aren’t through necessarily political ideas – of which I have many! – but through personal story. When you can hear the vulnerability in someone you’re more likely to listen to their position and where they come from.”
ÚMBRIEL will be launching their new single this month, with a fabulously queer launch party at Tomcat, in Brisbane.
“We have Sellma Soul who was just on 'The Voice' Australia and she’s a drag phenomenon and amazing singer, then we have Love Moves who are an amazing '80s pop duo and for us, we’ll be setting the stage with lots of pink, velvet, and blues, costumes, disco lights. . .
“For us as well we’re trying to have our music speak for ourselves, yes there’s costumes and all this decoration but what I’m trying to do with this is have the honesty of the music shine through.”
