Grumpy, the New York-based project of songwriter Heaven Schmitt, brings an underground, DIY ethos to everything they create. Whether collaborating with fellow indie stalwarts like claire rousay and More Eaze or showing up on Zach Bryan’s “This World’s a Giant,” Schmitt offers up a blend of homespun aesthetics and passion in their music. On the 2025 EP Piebald, Schmitt concocts intoxicating avant-pop collages, bringing together the technicolor Auto-Tune sheen of the post-100 gecs landscape with catchy guitar lines and whispered breakdowns that conjure the spirits of early-2000s indie music. All of these touchstones unite under Schmitt’s careful vision into something wholly unique, music that is both simultaneously very approachable and restlessly experimental. “Deeptalker” moves along with a lilting melody and chummy acoustic guitar chords, though the occasional grating horn intrusion brings the song into New York City traffic. Elsewhere, on “Knot,” Schmitt embraces the freak folk of yesteryear. Each element is delicately captured, from fingers moving up and down the fretboard to breaths taken between words.