Grumpy from Queens district of New York make sure we remember their unnerving idiosyncrasies first. Their new EP “Piebald”, which doubles down on the contradictions of last year’s “Wolfed“, is bookended by its most eerie, glitchy songs, affirming the grotesque aesthetic of the band’s visuals. Released at the end of 2024, “Wolfed” earned Grumpy coverage in Stereogum, Paste, and the New York Times. The band crashed into 2025 with a series of collaborative singles, including “Lonesome Ride” with Sidney Gish and Precious Human, and “Harmony” with Claire Rousay and Pink Must.
“Piebald” follows these playful experiments with even more delectable grotesqueries. “It’s honesty in drag,” Schmitt says of the music: not covered up but accentuated, exaggerated, liberated, stalking the stage in chiffon and top hat.
Make no mistake, though: these songs are about love, though the kind that’s warped in unconventional, often uncomfortable shapes. Sandwiched between them, though, are tracks like the infectious and uncomplicated ‘Crush’, which delights at the thought of complete lack of supervision, and ‘Proud of You’, which soars like a surefire hit.
Grumpy’s EP “Piebald” is a lopsided grin with a knife behind it — a shimmery gut punch that turns the grotesque into glamour and heartbreak into theater. Anchored by a voice that wavers between charming villain and sad clown, “Piebald” invites the listener into a world where ugliness isn’t just embraced — it’s the source of Grumpy’s power.
But it still doesn’t get better than Grumpy at their absolute rawest, a vulnerability rooted in their dynamic as a band: Like a darker spin on a Katy Kirby song, ‘Knot’ finds Heaven Schmitt singing “Holding you last night was worse than holding no one” as if inside the belly of a beast. That’s where the horror spawns.
released September 26th, 2025
Written by Heaven Schmitt
The Fat Angel Sings 