Speaking with Female First, Young stated that the song is about, "a hermit living in a box car on the edge of the shoreline that corroded so badly, it wound up at the bottom of the bay. Rather than finding a new home, the hermit chooses to learn to scuba dive and now spends his days deep under the waves in his boxcar".^[3]

"Umbrella Beach" was originally released as a promotional single on November 22, 2009, preceding the release of the official first single "Fireflies."^[4] An exclusive remix created by Kenny Hayes is included on the single release.^[5]

Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song a positive review stating, "By essentially re-working the best bits of 'Fireflies' and cranking up the BPM a few notches, Young has fashioned another stellar indie-folk-electro smash that should encourage even the most stubborn toe-tapper to have a jump around."^[6] Fraser McAlpine of BBC Radio gave a mixed review giving the song a 3 out of 5 star rating. He remarked, "I find I'm grateful for the blasts of syntrumpet, for the backwash of Netto Pet Shop Boys synthpop, cos they're doing what the coffee has long since failed at, namely keeping my brain focussed. I also find the lyrics start to make a crazy sort of sense, in the way that unreasoned things tend to sparkle in the middle of the night."^[1]

The music video for "Umbrella Beach" premiered on April 16, 2010 via YouTube and was directed by Alexander Brown. The video tells about a boy who is trying to build a plane to cross the sea and go to another island. At the end of the video, a group of his friends help him push the plane down a hill for takeoff. It is not shown whether or not the plane successfully flies. Adam Young did not appear in the music video apart from photos on a table. The video was filmed in Hope Cove, England.^[7] The plane used in the video was created by Robin Crowley.^[8]