Danny Elfman & Trent Reznor (2021)
Danny Elfman has enlisted Trent Reznor for a remixed version of True, a track off Big Mess, Elfman’s first solo album in 37 years.
“This is the first duet/collaboration I’ve ever done in my life, so to do it with Trent was a real surprise and a treat. He’s always been a big inspiration to me, not to mention he has one of my all-time favorite singing voices.”
– Danny Elfman
Reznor adds industrial flourishes, distortion, and vocals throughout the remix.
The True video also receives a remix of sorts, with the collaboration accompanied by an Aron Johnson-directed visual that combines archived footage from the original Sarah Sitkin-helmed video along with brand new 3D modeling.
Following a string of singles — Happy, Sorry, Love in the Time of Covid, and Kick Me. — in 2020, Elfman released Big Mess in June. The album, recorded during the Covid pandemic, also features a reworking of Insects, originally recorded by Elfman’s band Oingo Boingo in 1982.
“Once I began writing, it was like opening a Pandora’s box and I found I couldn’t stop. None of it was planned. I had no idea how many songs I would write but from the start, it quickly became a two-sided project with heavily contrasting and even conflicting tones.”
– Danny Elfman
Written by Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone Magazine
Yep. He was in the band Oingo Boingo in the 80s and has done the music for Tim Burton movies ever since. This is his first album to be released since oingo. This version has a very NIN feeling to it.
So many disturbing images collaged together it feels like looking inside the head of a tormented maniac! The music has an industrial horror feel to it. I just looked at Danny Elfman’s pedigree at imdb. More phenomenal than I imagined it would be. Out of all that this is his first duet/collaboration with anyone? Wow.