Danny Elfman has announced his first solo studio album in 37 years. Big Mess is set for release on June 11 via ANTI- and Epitaph. Along with the announcement, the composer has shared a Sarah Sitkin-directed video for the new track ‘True’. Check it out below and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork and tracklist.
“The video is an exploration of fractured identity, muffled through the lens of memory,” Sitkin said in a press release. “Danny is a central figure within the video, yet only in his reproduced likeness via prosthetics, masks and 3-D printed body parts. I wanted to make a video that was gritty, unpolished and uncomfortable.”
Created during quarantine in 2020, Big Mess features contributions from drummer Josh Freese, bassist Stu Brooks, and guitarists Robin Finck and Nili Brosh. “Once I began writing, it was like opening a Pandora’s box and I found I couldn’t stop,” Elfman explained. “None of it was planned. I had no idea how many songs I would write but from the start, it quickly became a 2-sided project with heavily contrasting and even conflicting tones.” He added: “I knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be a neat, easy-to-categorise record. It was always destined to be this crazy cacophony because that’s who I am. The ‘Big Mess’ is me.”
Elfman’s first non-soundtrack album since 1984, the 18-track LP includes the previously released singles ‘Happy’, ‘Sorry’, ‘Love in the Time of Covid’, and ‘Kick Me’.
Big Mess Cover Artwork:
Big Mess Tracklist:
1. Sorry
2. True
3. In Time
4. Everybody Loves You
5. Dance With the Lemurs
6. Serious Ground
7. Choose Your Side
8. We Belong
9. Happy
10. Just a Human
11. Devil Take Away
12. Love in the Time of Covid
13. Native Intelligence
14. Better Times
15. Cruel Compensation
16. Kick Me
17. Get Over It
18. Insects
