Mickey's Corner

"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.

“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.

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