Margaret Sohn – 7th Level Music

Miss Grit releases industrial-tinged new single, “Like You.”

Miss Grit, the New York-based, Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn, returns today with a new single “Like You,” via their new label Mute. Sohn (they/she) created Miss Grit to function as an outlet for their own analysis and expression of self. They are meticulous and introspective, and with “Like You,” they wrestle with listening to one’s inner voices. Which voices are leading to self-sabotage and which are leading towards liberation? What part of ourselves has been forced upon us by the outside world, and what was there to begin with? The magnitude of these questions and musings are reflected in Sohn’s precise, slowly building electric guitars and bold basslines (performed by Zoltan Sindhu), as her voice resonates over: “Bore new, everything is see-through. Confused, they might see they’re like you.” Sohn elaborates: “I had the character of Ex Machina in mind as the voice I was singing from. Her arc in the movie felt really beautiful to me, and I wanted to reach the same ending as her in this song.”

She adds about her recent signing: “Mute is one of the labels I put on a pedestal in my mind, so the fact I was even on their radar was really flattering. And then to think they believed in my music enough to want to work together made me so happy.”

Miss Grit has released two acclaimed EPs over the past three years, Talk, Talk, about the complexities of relationships, and Impostor about their grappling with identity. As a mixed-race, non-binary artist, they have always rejected the limits of identity that are thrust upon them by the outside world, in favor of embracing a more fluid and complex understanding of the self. Produced and recorded by Sohn, “Like You” presents Miss Grit as an artist intent on creating a way of being that is fully and completely their own.

Watch Miss Grit’s Lyric Video for “Like You”

Miss Grit Tour Dates
Wed. Oct. 26 – Paris, FR @ Super Sonic Records
Thu. Oct. 27 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Club
Sat. Oct. 29 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling
Tue. Nov. 1 – London, UK @ Amazing Grace

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Miss Grit – Impostor

Margaret Sohn, also known as Miss Grit, confronts impostor syndrome, Midwest living, the benefits and annoyances of technology, and more on her second EP Impostor. Even the cover art shows her unease with being in the spotlight. She’s actually trying to hide behind it.

I’m here to tell her that there’s no need for that, because Impostor is a nice piece of work. Opening track “Don’t Wander” is like something you’d hear while in orbit and has hard-hitting, simple lyrics like “There’s no more reward for winning. There’s a bigger toll for missing.” Sohn’s guitar on “Buy the Banter” is fuzzed and funky while Gregory Tock‘s drums are solid drops like heavy, scattered rainfall. The song is a brutal wake-up call to anyone who seeks power (“If you think you’re somebody, you’ll have to prove you’ve got what they want, and they want.”).

“Blonde” is a sad tale of Sohn confronting identity issues as a half-Korean woman growing up in a majority Caucasian Michigan town. Zoltan Sindhu‘s bass line on the track is a deceptive one, lulling you into a warm groove before the track blooms / bursts into a fuzzed-out fireworks display. Sohn’s guitar prowess is on full display on “Grow Up To,” with plenty of shredding and arena-ready riffs.

“Dark Side of the Party” is a great track, with Sohn mixing guitars and synths well and singing about being stuck at a party full of people who, on the surface, appear to be sure of themselves, but who are actually as frightened as her (or more so) of being discovered as an impostor. The title track ends the album, bubbling with hard rock guitars before simmering with ambient synths to drift us out into the world again, ready to face our own doubts with a little more confidence.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jim and Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Miss Grit unleashes heavy title track from upcoming album – “Impostor.”

Miss Grit, moniker of Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn, releases the title track from her forthcoming Impostor EP, out February 5th. It follows the “addictive” (Consequence of Sound) lead single “Dark Side Of The Party.” Throughout Impostor, Sohn explores the titular “impostor syndrome” that so often characterizes the insecurities of the early 20s. This is clear in EP closer “Impostor”: “They’re clapping awfully loud // For no tribulations or trials // Your reward’s // Faking worth // You’re no star // Impostor.” In Sohn’s words, “‘Impostor’ is the shredder I put all of the nagging voices in my head through.” The track bursts with fuzzy chords and bright keys, and when it hits its climax, Sohn’s vocals fade into a fury of heavy, eruptive guitar. Subsequently, there’s a stretch of bliss, Sohn’s voice floating over atmospheric keyboard and acoustic guitar: “Let ‘em smile // Let me smile.”

Listen to Miss Grit’s “Impostor”

Sohn makes relatable songs that masterfully dissect the feeling of self-doubt. Her songs can drastically shift from delicate to explosive as they show her technical prowess as a guitarist and melodist, and her evocative lyricism. On the heels of her Talk Talk EP, a “truly awe-inspiring first work” (NME), Impostor is a six song collection that’s more cathartic, resolute, and fully documents the array of talents she brings as a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer.

Impostor addresses her life-long navigation through the racial impostor syndrome she experienced as a half-Korean girl “trying to fit into the white space” of the Michigan suburbs where she grew up. Not even a move to New York City, where she studied music technology at NYU and began to dream of creating effects pedals for a living, could ease her internal conflict. Part of that uneasiness for Sohn was her initial success with Talk Talk and the feeling “she was someone who was impersonating a musician.” Her solution was producing the EP by herself at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice Studios so that she had complete creative control.

“I’ve gone my whole life feeling really uncomfortable defining myself,” Sohn says. “I realized that a lot of the time, I’m more comfortable with other people defining me and making up their mind about who I’m supposed to be.” Writing this EP helped her understand that futile pattern. Miss Grit is a project that allows Sohn to break through self-bias, creating a version of herself that doesn’t need to be limited. Expressing herself through her powerful, confident music while still being vulnerable about her insecurities is a dynamic that characterizes her work, with all of its pushes and pulls of emotion. Ultimately, Sohn says, the Impostor EP is about feeling self-doubt, working through it with music, and letting it all subside.

Listen to “Dark Side Of The Party”

Pre-save Impostor EP

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica and Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Miss Grit announces new EP for February 2021 and invites us to the “Dark Side of the Party” on her new single.

Miss Grit, moniker of Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn, announces her Impostor EP, out February 5th, and presents its lead single “Dark Side Of The Party.” Sohn makes relatable songs that masterfully dissect the feeling of self-doubt. Her songs can drastically shift from delicate to explosive as they show her technical prowess as a guitarist and melodist, and her evocative lyricism. On the heels of her Talk Talk EP, a “truly awe-inspiring first work” (NME), Impostor is a six song collection that’s more cathartic, resolute, and fully documents the array of talents she brings as a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer.

Throughout Impostor, Sohn explores the titular “impostor syndrome” that so often characterizes the insecurities of the early 20s. The songs address her life-long navigation through the racial impostor syndrome she experienced as a half-Korean girl “trying to fit into the white space” of the Michigan suburbs where she grew up. Not even a move to New York City, where she studied music technology at NYU and began to dream of creating effects pedals for a living, could ease her internal conflict. Part of that uneasiness for Sohn was her initial success with Talk Talk and the feeling “she was someone who was impersonating a musician.” Her solution was producing the EP by herself at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice Studios so that she had complete creative control.

Throughout Impostor, the sound moves from dirty and aggressive to hypnotic and ethereal. The inventive “Dark Side Of The Party” boasts fuzzed-out riffs and synth theatrics, and is an anthem for feeling out of place at a party full of surface-level conversations and ulterior motives. She sings, “I can’t tell hearts apart from spare parts/I try, I try, I try/Why can’t I?” “I’ve gone my whole life feeling really uncomfortable defining myself,” Sohn says. “I realized that a lot of the time, I’m more comfortable with other people defining me and making up their mind about who I’m supposed to be.” Writing this EP helped her understand that futile pattern. Miss Grit is a project that allows Sohn to break through self-bias, creating a version of herself that doesn’t need to be limited. Expressing herself through her powerful, confident music while still being vulnerable about her insecurities is a dynamic that characterizes her work, with all of its pushes and pulls of emotion. Ultimately, Sohn says, the Impostor EP is about feeling self-doubt, working through it with music, and letting it all subside.
Listen to “Dark Side Of The Party”

Pre-save Impostor EP

Impostor EP Tracklist
1.Don’t Wander
2. Buy The Banter
3. Blonde
4. Grow Up To
5. Dark Side Of The Party
6. Impostor

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica and Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]