Under My Umbrella

On Follow the Cyborg, Miss Grits Margaret Sohn looked to the future. Released in early 2023, Sohns debut album mused on AI (as well as feminism and social media fatigue) during the vanishingly small moment when it still seemed like science fiction rather than a fact of life. This time, Miss Grits gaze turns inward. On Under My Umbrella, Sohn may have set the cyborg aside, but their isolation and vulnerability have gained newfound force. Performing Follow the Cyborg live transformed Miss Grits music, and the same adrenaline flows through "Tourist Mind," which pairs Sohns fondness for cinematic strings with frantic beats and synths that cut through the haze like glow sticks. The intensity and the stakes feel just as high on the black latex-clad trip-hop of "Stranger" and "Mind Disaster," a club banger built on cognitive dissonance: "It feels so strange/When I dont believe the things I say," Miss Grit intones over hard-hitting rhythms that deepen their existential dread. Confessions like these may seem more intimate than Follow the Cyborgs vignettes of an android gaining sentience, but the way Sohn expresses them is more enigmatic. Miss Grits complete disorientation is contagious on "Where Is My Head," a softly disturbing highlight where slight shifts in the lyrics ("Ill never see in front of me…Youll never see inside of me") offer telling hints about a relationships power dynamics. Ambivalence reigns on "You Will Change," with Sohn teetering between hope and doubt: "While you wait for pain/Your heart will go on/Pulled into another day." Though Under My Umbrellas emotions are murky, its musical lineage is clear. On songs such as "Wont Count on You," a murmured ballad that becomes a rave anthem, Miss Grits darkly beautiful, more than a little imposing homages to the darker side of 1990s and 2000s electronic music call to mind Massive Attack, Radiohead, and Homogenic-era The singer/songwriter ventures deeper into isolation and vulnerability with darkly beautiful, enigmatic songs that evoke Massive Attack and Bjork. At times, the album is almost too homogenic, with melodic motifs and arrangements carried across its songs ("Waste Me," the relatively bright, piano-driven closing track, is a welcome reminder of Follow the Cyborgs range). And while Sohns heavily processed vocals heighten their alienation, they can also distance their audience from their messages. However, repeated listening uncovers a world as thought-provoking as that of Follow the Cyborg. As Miss Grit confronts and conceals their heartache on Under My Umbrella, they continue to unite high-concept ambition and pop immediacy in fascinating ways. ~ Heather Phares