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We’ve spent this summer chasing down artist profiles and trying to exist across platforms we barely understand. Truthfully, when this all began, our biggest dream was simply to make a demo and start a label. Sharing our bios? Not on the original to-do list. But here we are. Half-baked and ready to roll, released into the wild on Tea’s half-birthday, July 7 (she’s officially 55.5 now), and we decided that’s as good a time as any. We’re not big on social media anymore, we pr

In a noisy world, one creature quietly champions peace, empathy, and connection through the universal language of kindness. Meet Sir P. Umbrey Possum, Velvet Umbrella Records’ velvet-jacketed mascot and the official Ambassador of Harmony. He’s not your average possum—he’s a diplomat, storyteller, and musical muse who reminds us that understanding, collaboration, and a touch of weirdness can change the world.

Velvet Umbrella Records was founded not in a boardroom or studio — but in a circle of artists, survivors, and spoonies who had lost trust in the music industry… and slowly found their way back to sound, together. We are a small independent label built on collaboration, community, and creative recovery — a home for the tender, the strange, the experimental, and the heartfelt.

Once Upon a Playlist… A year ago, we made a haunted mood board. No title. No rules. Just a swirling list of songs that felt like shadows...

"A sultry invitation to the darker side of autumn".

What started as a modest 10-song album grew ... and grew ... until it became a 34-scene dark cabaret-musical, complete with a book to match. The process wasn’t easy. Our spoonie lives clashed with our over-achiever tendencies, and there were times we pushed ourselves too far. We had to learn to step back, breathe, and be okay with delays.

If the Production Blueprint was the skeleton, then this is the séance — the fire and voices that made Masquerade of Shadows breathe. We didn’t just record songs. We conjured characters. We built a haunted cabaret where every voice wore masks, and every laugh lived beside the shadows.

Welcome to Mickey’s Corner, where the curtain lifts and the tricks behind Masquerade of Shadows come into focus. This isn’t just an album; it’s a cabaret stage built inside Ableton Live, layered with ghosts, strings, synths, and secrets. Here’s how the blueprint unfolds.

At the heart of the project is Masquerade of Shadows - part album, part stage play for headphones. Now in its final remastering, with the first draft of the companion book and artwork nearly complete, Masquerade of Shadows is slated for release in Fall 2025 under Velvet Umbrella Records.

“You wouldn’t believe how good a plastic Fisher-Price xylophone sounds once you detune it and run it through a tape echo. It’s not junk — it’s treasure in disguise. That’s the Velvet Umbrella way.

About the Project Necromancy Coffee House EP is more than a set of jingles, it’s a séance set to music. Gala Violet conjures cabaret mischief and spectral harmonies to celebrate the ritual of coffee as resurrection. Born out of late-night sessions at Studio TeaZilla and fueled by endless mugs of Necromancy Coffee, these tracks live somewhere between dark vaudeville and indie dreamscape.

These weren’t written with an album in mind. They began as private sparks—prompts Mickey gave me to help me write again when I thought my voice was gone for good. Mickey quickly became my Relentless Song Spotter (or, depending on the day, Lyric Detective). He had read my very first lyric diary and wasn’t about to let me drift off—always nudging: “That’s a song. No—that’s a song. You need to develop this one more.” He kept me accountable, even when I just wanted to scribble

It started as a demo. A goal. A whispered dream. Then a flurry of late-night Zoom calls, playlists passed like notes in class, encouragement sent in long texts, half-baked ideas for record labels and comics and healing. It was never meant to be a band, or maybe it was. We just didn’t know it yet.