Wolfed by Grumpy

Heaven, front person of Grumpy, keeps their friends close and their exes closer. The keyboardist and bassist are Heaven’s ex girlfriends, the drummer is their ex-husband (the guitar player and Heaven never dated but when they first moved to New York Heaven had a crush on Diego and there was one night when they thought they might kiss but they didn’t). Juicy, right? It sounds scandalous but really it paints a picture of the deep intimacy Heaven has with their collaborators. When Grumpy plays, the stories being told have a realism that can only be created when the songs are performed by the people they are about.

The new Wolfed EP sits in the Grumpy discography as their most confident and self-flourished work to date. Grumpy released their first record, Loser in 2020. is the origin story to the first of many “winners” coming for Grumpy. In the four years since the release of Loser, Heaven got divorced, moved to New York and was, for the first time, on their own. During this time Heaven transformed. They became brighter, happier, and much more confident. The same transformation is true for Grumpy’s new sound. With Wolfed, Grumpy makes a triumphant return with a body of work that takes bigger risks, laughs louder, and has more fun. In the lyrics you hear the self deprecating admissions of a person hilariously stumbling through love and life. But in the production, you get an impression of a cocky, jester type, unashamedly working for your attention. This dichotomy, somehow, leaves you charmed.

On stage, Heaven’s banter is a mix of high-confidence-rock-star and awkwardly honest dork. Looking at the full room of show-goers Heaven says into the mic, “well this is a perfect set up for me because I love attention.” There is an earnesty in the way Grumpy asks for your attention that makes you give it to them generously.

When someone “wolfed”, they “ate”, they “crushed”, they “devoured.” This is how Grumpy feels about their latest EP, Grumpy holds the difficult truths about themselves and swallows them whole, proudly. Take “Flower” for example: Heaven sings, “Sometimes I think of you so hard, I wonder if you can sense it”. There is a sweetness in their delivery that, coupled with the overt confidence that emits from such unabashed confessions, creates a portrait of love in a constellation. In Grumpy’s world, adoration has gravity. And they want you to feel it.

In “Beach Towel”, a gorgeous, ambient drone underscores Heaven’s a portrait of the imperfect love of friendship. They picture wearing the body of their closest confidant to their own birthday party, where everyone can witness how important they are to each other, despite not being lovers. For lead singer, Heaven, it is rare that a non-lover obtain such closeness and they want everyone to understand the status they hold in this person’s life saying, “If I could meet your older sister, I would hope she thinks I’m funny / She’d report back to your family that we’re very close”. The sparse, chilling instrumentation of “Beach Towel” exposes the often cocky Grumpy character as a person insistent on being thought of as loved and important to someone.

The Grumpy brand of idyllic proximity to a world of potential lovers permeates through the sonics of Wolfed. Growling synth swells paired with thumb-piano cascades bleed seamlessly into wall-of-sound guitars over ripping slow-core drums on “Holding”. Heaven screams “I could be there in 5 hours, if you hold on and I speed,” as the band thrashes on harder and harder. Distorted screeches greet the ear like rings from a bell tower, where the clock is Love, and you can see it from any rooftop. And suddenly, we’re sucked back out and met with Mount Eerie-esque musings on the past. Heaven’s desire is beyond charming– their willingness to pause life for someone is palpable. And all just to hold onto love.

As Wolfed fades out on the gorgeous outro track, “Mandarin Allemande. And by the end of the EP the boastful, tophat wearing, dark fantasy, circus ringleader is redeemed as, just a person, wanting to give and receive love. A couple of chords and the humming of a familiar tune bring us back into a hand-holding world of safety and comfort. Heaven’s love isn’t reckless, it is playful and highly considered. Heaven may stumble and hit the wrong notes, say the wrong thing. But they do it for love. For Grumpy, those missteps are not preventable speed bumps in a relationship, but the Kintsugi cracks that make life worth singing about.. For in those painful moments of a relationship, we find Truth about ourselves. There is simple serenity found in realizing your imperfections the hard way. Grumpy exposes those missteps and invites you to laugh. By the end of “Wolfed” we leave the circus tent less afraid of ourselves.