Released: 5th February 2021
2019 saw Miss Grit burst onto the indie scene in an effervescent flurry of synthetic soundscapes that showcased Margaret Sohn’s passions for recontextualising traditional instruments. ‘Talk Talk’ contained an element of sparsity in its instrumentalism and Margaret couldn’t help but feeling as though she was impersonating a musician in order to fill the voids. It was a timid release – almost infantile in its prerogative – but it was instantly met with rave reviews, and is a glorious relic to revisit in comparing Miss Grit’s development over the past two years.
If you took St Vincent’s signature guitar riffs and threw them into a cement mixer with Phoebe Bridgers’ morose lyricism and Kim Deal’s hushed, breathy vocals, you’d be getting close to the new self-assured version of Miss Grit that is portrayed on ‘Impostor’. “If you think you’re somebody / you’ll have to prove you’ve got what they want,” she sings in ‘Buy The Banter’. It’s a sentiment that follows her around as a Korean-American who has always felt as though she’s had to try harder to fit in. Playing with an overwhelming barrage of textures in ‘Dark Side Of The Party’, Margaret essentially stitches two different songs together and stumbles into the fact that you’re at your best when following an eclectic burst of creativity and walking your own path as opposed to following the tried and tested route. Identity is key and Miss Grit is getting closer to finding her own.
