Miss Grit – Impostor EP
Surely each and every one of us has sometimes felt out of place; Margaret Sohn, a Korean-American musician trying to find her through the Western guitar canon via the most traditional of Michigan’s middle-class suburbs, has – by her own admission – felt like an outsider her whole life. Miss Grit is a coping mechanism for Sohn, a necessary escape from the impostor syndrome that gives her sophomore EP its title, even going so far as to produce its six tracks herself so as not to “feel like a fraud”.
Sohn’s struggles are relatable despite her unique circumstances, varied too, a series of thick bass fuzztones and catchy melodies landing the listen somewhere near the alt/guitar-pop stylings of the likes of Jay Som and Mitski. Churning drums and strains of indie-lite grunge lend the result a Speedy Ortiz sheen too, but these experimental textures, as twitchy, minimal and mournful as they often are come tempered by Sohn’s relatively predictable repeats. And herein lies the problem; no matter the introduction of soothing electronics and distortion, no matter the tortured, pitch-shifted longing to be like the blonde girls in her neighbourhood and her pretty synth patterning, Impostor is just too good as fitting in to really stand out.
The neat tricks of a track like “Grow Up To”, for example, end up landing like some trite 80s teen-flick montage, only lead single, “Dark Side Of The Party,” truly lolloping around the place awkwardly enough to cause interest and concern in equal measure. There’s enough here to make a meal of, but in its current iteration it’s not one to return to often, a snack of convenience rather than a moment of indulgence.
Best track: “Dark Side Of The Party”
~The Impostor EP is self-released February 5th 2021.~