Unfindable Ring, out on October 23 on Bayonet Records, is an epic adventure. Like any good Spirited Away or The Neverending Story, the journey of this much-traveled protagonist brings him back home just before bedtime. Grumpy, like many great trickster heroes before him, has always been a project of juxtaposition: catchy, radio-ready tunes whose cheerful, goofy choruses mask the dark thoughts they describe. Schmitt acknowledges that this is largely due to the morbid, yet commonplace, reality of the trans experience in the United States. It is from these experiences—personal, romantic, political, and existential—that the story of Unfindable Ring unfolds. Energetic and versatile, shifting between synths worthy of an 80s film soundtrack, honky-tonk strings, jazz percussion, shoegaze distortion, and enough vocoder to replace Siri’s entire library, its characters are sent on missions across the country, the world, and even through time. At times, it recalls the DSU-era Alex G; at others, Massive Attack; sometimes it’s 100 gecs, sometimes it’s sincere, acoustic, fragile: a sound that belongs to Schmitt alone.