The phrase "sombre backdrop" is correct and perfectly usable in written English.
It can be used when you want to describe a setting, mood, or atmosphere in a dramatic, gloomy, and somber way. For example, "The sombre backdrop of the stormy night created an unsettling atmosphere."
The events in America have provided a sombre backdrop for this year's party conference.
THE fighting in Ukraine, which Vladimir Putin further escalated this week by sending Russian forces over the border, provides a sombre backdrop to the NATO summit in Wales.
Against the sombre backdrop of a 37% drop in November sales (compared with a year earlier) for the industry as a whole, GM's sales fell by 41% and Chrysler's by 47%.
For a few moments – two weeks before Wimbledon – tennis held its collective breath as the world No1, who has been dogged by bad knees for years, lay immobilised, down for the count, grey skies providing a sombre backdrop.
Spain has slipped back in recession and figures later this month are likely to show that euro-wide GDP has also shrunk for two successive quarters.Against this sombre backdrop, there has been a distinct shift in political rhetoric, away from an insistence on joyless austerity as a means of countering the debt crisis and towards talk about growth.
Against, a sombre background, blue as midnight,.
Although the tables, chairs, beds, and other props change, the view of stark window walls at dusk provides an unvaryingly sombre and confining backdrop.
Then a mysterious, dark-clad figure makes a sudden gesture and the backdrop vanishes, revealing a sombre marbled hall.
There were reports this morning that Gaga was reluctant to perform after the death of Alexander McQueen last week and had told organisers she would only play a set that was suitably sombre (with images of McQueen projected as a backdrop apparently).
Behind them was the maquette of the play's spare proscenium set — its backdrop of sky and its sliding side panels painted in the deep, sombre blues, grays, and browns of Edward Hopper's palette.
