Biography
Miss Grit stakes out a singular position as a half-Korean non-binary creator by dissolving lines separating rock from electronic music and questioning established ideas about romance and selfhood. The stage name adopted by New York-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Margaret Sohn captures the tension running through the work: Sohn’s vocals often project an unsettling stillness while surrounding guitars and synths reveal a contrasting narrative. That same tension shapes the project’s output, whether mapping relational fractures on the 2019 Talk Talk EP or transforming self-doubt and absorbed bias into bold electro-rock statements on the 2021 Impostor EP. The conceptual and emotional balance reached its fullest expression on the 2023 debut album Follow the Cyborg, whose themes drew on anime, science fiction, and feminist essays.
Raised in suburban Michigan, Sohn first grasped music’s force through the Fiona Apple and Led Zeppelin tracks their parents played at home. After developing a passion for guitar and beginning lessons at age six, they added cello several years later; their father, an electrical engineer, supported the shared interest in music-making by supplying recording gear and software to Sohn and their sisters. During middle school an uncle’s USB drive of tracks broadened their listening to include early touchstones such as St. Vincent and LCD Soundsystem.
Following high school, Sohn enrolled at New York University to study music technology. They joined multiple bands and tried building guitar pedals yet only began writing original material in earnest during a January 2018 winter break, when they produced the songs that formed their first EP. Taking the project name from a childhood nickname, Sohn tracked the material at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice studio—where they had once interned—with drummer Greg Tock and bassist Zoltan Sindhu. Released in January 2019, the Talk Talk EP set deceptively tranquil melodies against turbulent guitars and referenced Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Critical praise followed, leading Miss Grit to tour with Cigarettes After Sex; the band’s Spanish Prayers label then issued the April 2019 single “Running Slow.”
The acclaim surrounding Talk Talk stirred up unresolved doubts tied to Sohn’s upbringing as a mixed-race child in a predominantly white community, prompting deeper exploration on the subsequent release. Once again recorded at Virtue and Vice with Sindhu and Tock and produced solely by Sohn, the February 2021 Impostor EP displayed heightened assurance through its vivid textural and melodic juxtapositions. Although written and tracked with a full band, much of the material was composed alone during the COVID-19 global pandemic. After signing with Mute, Miss Grit debuted on the label with September 2022’s “Like You,” which appeared on the first full-length, February 2023’s Follow the Cyborg. Drawing from Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, the films of anime director Satoshi Kon, and Jia Tolentino’s essays, the album’s stories of artificial intelligence achieving freedom were captured at Sohn’s home studio and included contributions from Pearla, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, Tock, and Sindhu.
Raised in suburban Michigan, Sohn first grasped music’s force through the Fiona Apple and Led Zeppelin tracks their parents played at home. After developing a passion for guitar and beginning lessons at age six, they added cello several years later; their father, an electrical engineer, supported the shared interest in music-making by supplying recording gear and software to Sohn and their sisters. During middle school an uncle’s USB drive of tracks broadened their listening to include early touchstones such as St. Vincent and LCD Soundsystem.
Following high school, Sohn enrolled at New York University to study music technology. They joined multiple bands and tried building guitar pedals yet only began writing original material in earnest during a January 2018 winter break, when they produced the songs that formed their first EP. Taking the project name from a childhood nickname, Sohn tracked the material at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice studio—where they had once interned—with drummer Greg Tock and bassist Zoltan Sindhu. Released in January 2019, the Talk Talk EP set deceptively tranquil melodies against turbulent guitars and referenced Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Critical praise followed, leading Miss Grit to tour with Cigarettes After Sex; the band’s Spanish Prayers label then issued the April 2019 single “Running Slow.”
The acclaim surrounding Talk Talk stirred up unresolved doubts tied to Sohn’s upbringing as a mixed-race child in a predominantly white community, prompting deeper exploration on the subsequent release. Once again recorded at Virtue and Vice with Sindhu and Tock and produced solely by Sohn, the February 2021 Impostor EP displayed heightened assurance through its vivid textural and melodic juxtapositions. Although written and tracked with a full band, much of the material was composed alone during the COVID-19 global pandemic. After signing with Mute, Miss Grit debuted on the label with September 2022’s “Like You,” which appeared on the first full-length, February 2023’s Follow the Cyborg. Drawing from Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, the films of anime director Satoshi Kon, and Jia Tolentino’s essays, the album’s stories of artificial intelligence achieving freedom were captured at Sohn’s home studio and included contributions from Pearla, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, Tock, and Sindhu.
Albums
Singles
