Miss Grit Builds a World Worth Staying In

Margaret Sohn doesn’t make music that fits neatly into a box. That’s been clear since their debut album Follow the Cyborg, which used sci-fi frameworks to explore identity and autonomy. On Under My Umbrella, they take a different approach. The architecture is still intricate, but the emotional center has shifted. This is an album about shelter, about the spaces we build for ourselves and others.

The title is literal in a way. Sohn has said the album was conceived during a period of instability, and the songs reflect a desire for protection. But the umbrella isn’t just a shield. It’s also a structure, a frame. The production mirrors that duality. Tracks like “Hold Still” layer synths and guitars in ways that feel both enclosing and expansive. The basslines are thick, almost tactile. You can feel the weight of them.

Sohn’s voice is the steady anchor throughout. It’s not a showy instrument. It sits in the mix with a kind of quiet confidence, letting the arrangements breathe around it. On “Window,” they sing about looking out at a world that feels distant. The guitar work is sparse, almost hesitant. It’s one of the album’s most vulnerable moments, and it lands because Sohn doesn’t oversell it.

The Korean-American experience threads through the record in subtle ways. Not as a theme to be announced, but as a texture. There are melodic choices that feel informed by traditional Korean music, though Sohn never leans on them as signifiers. They’re just part of the language. “Seoul” is the most direct reference, but even there, the song is more about memory than geography. It’s about carrying a place with you.

Production-wise, Under My Umbrella is cleaner than its predecessor. The edges are softer. The noise is still there, but it’s been shaped into something more deliberate. “Coil” builds from a single piano note into a wall of sound, but the transition feels organic, not forced. Sohn has a gift for making complexity feel inevitable.

The album’s middle section drags slightly. “Petal” and “Dust” share a similar tempo and mood, and the sequencing could have used a sharper contrast between them. But the closing stretch redeems it. “Under My Umbrella” the title track is a slow burn that never quite erupts, and that restraint is the point. Not every shelter needs to be fortress. Sometimes a roof is enough.

Miss Grit has made an album about the quiet work of staying safe, of creating space for yourself and others. It’s not a loud record, but it doesn’t need to be. The best shelters are the ones you barely notice until you need them.