Last updated: 6 days ago
If Danny Elfman’s new album surprises you, just know that it surprised him, too.
“This wasn’t a record I ever planned on making,” confesses Elfman. “At times, I had no idea where the music was even coming from. It was all unexpected. But I decided not to resist it either.”
Driven by primal forces seemingly beyond his control, Big Mess marks Elfman’s first solo collection in more than thirty years, but it’s no return to form. Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer, drawing on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestra in an effort to exorcise the demons brought about by four years of creeping fascism and civil rot.
The songs here call to mind everything from Nine Inch Nails, to David Bowie to XTC at times, balancing dense, harmonically complex arrangements with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. Elfman wrote almost all of the record during quarantine, and while the anger, frustration, and isolation of it all is palpable in his delivery, Big Mess is about more than simply blowing off steam. In making the space to truly sit with his emotions and write without limitations, Elfman achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, rediscovering his voice and reinventing himself all at once in the process.
“This wasn’t a record I ever planned on making,” confesses Elfman. “At times, I had no idea where the music was even coming from. It was all unexpected. But I decided not to resist it either.”
Driven by primal forces seemingly beyond his control, Big Mess marks Elfman’s first solo collection in more than thirty years, but it’s no return to form. Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer, drawing on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestra in an effort to exorcise the demons brought about by four years of creeping fascism and civil rot.
The songs here call to mind everything from Nine Inch Nails, to David Bowie to XTC at times, balancing dense, harmonically complex arrangements with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. Elfman wrote almost all of the record during quarantine, and while the anger, frustration, and isolation of it all is palpable in his delivery, Big Mess is about more than simply blowing off steam. In making the space to truly sit with his emotions and write without limitations, Elfman achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, rediscovering his voice and reinventing himself all at once in the process.
Monthly Listeners
3.7 million
Monthly Listeners History
Track the evolution of monthly listeners over the last 28 days.
Followers
509,292
Followers History
Track the evolution of followers over the last 28 days.
Total Streams
1.5 billion
Total Streams History
Track the evolution of total streams over the last 28 days. This data is calculated from all tracks listed in the artist's discography.
Top Cities
64,735 listeners
54,595 listeners
30,861 listeners
29,472 listeners
29,470 listeners
Related Artists
Alan Menken
Michael Giacchino
Alan Silvestri
Patrick Doyle
John Williams
James Newton Howard
David Arnold
Alexandre Desplat
Jerry Goldsmith
The Newton Brothers
Laurent Petitgirard
Benjamin Wallfisch
The Citizens of Halloween
Catherine O'Hara
Hélène Breschand
John Carpenter
Paul Reubens
Ken Page
Ed Ivory
James Horner
John Debney
John Powell
London Music Works
Harry Gregson-Williams
Cast - The Nightmare Before Christmas
London Symphony Orchestra
Nicholas Hooper
Paul Williams
Thomas Newman
Daniel Pemberton
Hans Zimmer
Klaus Badelt
Randy Newman
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
Junkie XL
Henry Jackman
Joseph Trapanese
Bear McCreary
London Voices
