Miss Grit opens for Just Mustard at Valley Bar May 17

When I got on the phone with Miss Grit, also known as Margaret Sohn, she was driving to Los Angeles for a headlining show celebrating the release of her new record, Under My Umbrella. She’ll cruise to Phoenix for a show at downtown’s Valley Bar on Sunday, May 17, supporting Just Mustard.

The nine tracks were all written and produced by Sohn, who handled vocals, guitars, synths, and drum programming. An array of musicians joined throughout, adding an array of instruments and additional vocals. The output is nine lush, electronic tracks, each with its own landscape. “Tourist Mind” has you on a dream-pop dance floor, swirling to keep up with its gently relentless beats. “Where Is My Head” is slow and steady; the vocals are slightly spooky, as they feel like they’re coming from someone lurking in the shadows. The diversity is refreshing. This is no ‘set it and forget it’ electronic situation, where a common beat threads every song. This is architecture and experimentation.

Sohn, who has been playing guitar since she was young, says music was always the dream.

“I didn’t really start trying to do songwriting until college,” she says.

“That was when I was really starting to consider starting my own project pretty seriously. I was just playing in bands at the time, playing guitar for other people’s music. I think I was just kind of, kind of itching to do my own thing and try out the songwriting part and producing part, but I wasn’t really sure if I had it in me or not, so I was testing out the waters in college and ended up feeling like I could do it more seriously and dropped out of college and started doing it seriously.”

The kind of music she was doing with those aforementioned bands was in the rock realm.

“After college, I think I started getting more into electronic music, and that was a big source of inspiration for this record. I was listening to a lot of trip-hop music, like Massive Attack and Portishead, around the same time,” she says. You can feel the affinity for those bands that made trip-hop a part of the sonic lexicon.

Her process for building her tracks involves hunting, of sorts.

“I really try to search for a certain sound, through instruments, tones, and synth sounds. Trying to figure out the textural landscape, I think of a song first. Then, I start to build out the song with that context I had set up for it in the beginning. Maybe it’s a little backward from how other people do it (laughs); more production heavy at the beginning.”

Sohn says she digs performing but admits it gives her a little anxiety. She has used those nerves to do more of the building inherent in her way of working, creating an environment that makes her comfortable.

“I do suffer from performance anxiety, but I’ve been finding enjoyment in building the whole atmosphere around it. I do my own visuals and album art, so adding that all into the show was something I was really interested in.

“Especially with this record, I wanted to try and write songs that would be more fun to play live, too. I think enjoying performing is a necessity for this whole thing I’m doing, so I work to make it enjoyable,” she adds.

Things are happening for Sohn, like getting some big ups from mags like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, and playing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s online series. The artist is definitely jazzed about these things, but operates from a level perspective.

“I just try to keep my expectations really low. When stuff like that happens, I think ‘oh, that’s cool,’ but when I tell my parents or friends, they always have a much bigger reaction, and they’re confused as to why I don’t seem so excited (laughs). I try not to get too ahead of myself.”

Mainly, she’s hoping that people “connect to my music the same way I connected to music growing up.”

“I found a safe haven in music, and it always got me through hard times. It’s also always been a source of joy. It’s one of the most important things in my life, and I hope the music I’m writing can be that for others.”

Catch the show for ages 16 and older at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, at Valley Bar. Tickets here.