Grumpy’s forthcoming album Unfindable Ring lands next month. To date, Heaven Schmitt and the crew have released “Twenty Five” and “OBL,” the latter earning recognition as one of the week’s standout tracks. They now return with the Alex G.-influenced earworm “The Whale,” featuring D.A. Crimson.
“Diego [Clare], my bandmate, is the finest songwriter I know,” Schmitt says about D.A. Crimson, continuing:
Since meeting them, collaborating with and learning from them feels like the only antidote to the jealousy their artistry provokes. In co-writing this track, they nudged me away from my usual, truth-based storytelling and into a realm of inventive fiction. We both tend toward shared misery about the music industry, wondering if we will ever break through. Yet this song is about knowing that our moment will arrive. That the big guns will level up, and we will step into the next rung of the ladder; that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that Grumpy will “eat again” when the “whale has his breakfast.”
Clare adds:
What started with a few decent punchlines later matured into a sincere, heartfelt sentiment, which Heaven and I grapple with a lot. Namely, the sense that nothing ever lands; that one step forward somehow sets you two steps back; that change keeps getting shorter—a dark “shrinkflation” of the soul, so to speak. Yet we also realize that despite how many of our systems and institutions feel increasingly stacked against us, and despite the instability and anxiety about our futures, we remain the stewards of our own value and joy. Playing music plays a significant role in that for us. So it’s about embracing gratitude, not in a naive way, but in defiance of cynicism — with a tongue in one cheek and an open palm on the other.
Watch the video directed by Clare below.
Unfindable Ring is scheduled for release on 10/23 through Bayonet.
