Grumpy Announces New EP & Shares "Crush"
“Harmony” is a hyperpop ballad that somehow stays winsome despite its filtered, pitch-shifted, overlapping vocals, warped instrumental sounds and angular bits of melody." The New York Times
"Heaven Schmitt knows when to indulge their strangest impulses. That’s no small talent, and it’ll make Grumpy a band to watch." FADER
"Heaven Schmitt’s songwriting is indeed an ideal glue for Grumpy’s music. Their sweetly melodious vocals and piercingly intimate lyrics cut through the noise, orienting everything else in their image." Stereogum
"A collage of glitchy, nonchalant ecstasy." Paste
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It's been an exciting year for Grumpy, the NYC based-project led by Heaven Schmitt (they/he). After signing to Bayonet Records (Beach Fossils, Mei Semones) in the summer of 2024, they released their first EP for the label in October. Entitled Wolfed, that EP caused an immediate stir, earning praise from outlets like FADER (who called Grumpy "a band to watch in 2025"), BrooklynVegan and FLOOD, and landing on Stereogum and Paste's Best EPs of 2024 lists, while the project made Stereogum's Best New Artists list.
Their burgeoning indie-world notoriety then took a surprising turn, when they caught the attention of country music superstar Zach Bryan, who was immediately taken by Heaven's voice and tapped them to duet on two tracks he released at the end of last year, before bringing them on board to continue collaborating on new music in 2025. Heaven's year of collaboration continued with the release of a pair of collaborative singles, "Lonesome Ride," that they made with their NYC compatriots Sidney Gish and Precious Human (that was released alongside a Stereogum feature), and "Harmony," which features Claire Rousay and Pink Must, which arrived alongside a Paste Best of What's Next feature and earned praise from the New York Times.
Today, Grumpy is announcing a new EP called Piebald, which will be released on Bayonet on September 26th. To mark the announce they are sharing a new single entitled "Crush."
Rooted in DIY ethos and wrapped in Goosebumps-style theatrics, Piebald plays with the idea of ugliness as performance. It’s “clown logic,” exaggerating what is meant to be hidden for the listeners’ amusement. It’s not about being the hero. It’s about being the lovable malefactor, the main character who refuses redemption but demands attention.
"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.
The video for "Crush" plays with this dynamic, depicting Schmitt as an amorous sea monster while accompanying a song as bright and open-hearted as any in their catalog to date.
Schmitt says of the track: Crush was written years ago, during a time when I kept finding myself at the edge of saying “I love you,” but not quite. It was about all the crushes I’d ever had, but more specifically, it was about one person. They had actually written me a song called “Crush” first, and this was my response.
At the time, I was engaged and in an open relationship. That familiar rush of a new crush was there, but something about this one felt different, like it could turn my whole life upside down. And, in some ways, it did. Though we eventually settled into friendship, I look back on this as the beginning of the end, the realization that– shit, I'm gayer than I thought, and ultimately it led to the end of my marriage to our drummer (and beloved friend) Austin Arnold.
Crush was the first song I wrote about them. It’s about the thrill of obsession, of possibility. Flower, which came out last year on our EP Wolfed, was about the other side of that story: the peace that comes with letting go, and allowing something once-romantic to transform into deep friendship.
