DANNY ELFMAN

Big Mess ANTI-/EPITAPH

Soundtrack king revisits rock with his first solo album since 1984.

Not for Danny Elfman the existential introspection that lockdown provoked in some musicians. Instead, it prompted a creative outpouring in the former Oingo Boingo frontmanturned-soundtrack nabob, which yielded this massive, 18-song album in which he explores the turmoil of recent years.

The concept behind Big Mess was to ally rock guitars (some of which are provided by Nine Inch Nails man Robin Finck) and lavish string arrangements. The punishing drums and female backing vocals of Sorry achieve an over-the-top-ness that evokes Devin Townsend at his most full blown, with

Elfman giving his anger full vent as he aims his ire at an unnamed but obvious subject for ‘the hate that you’ve collected’, while calling for ‘revolution and evolution’.

It’s difficult to sustain this level of intensity throughout and Everybody Loves You, while hardly light relief, takes it down a notch. Dance With The Lemurs with its marimba and swooning string lines is more fun, and Elfman’s vocals have a Bowie-esque poise about them on Devil Take Away. And in a nostalgic nod back to his past, Insect is a reworking of a song he recorded with Oingo Boingo back in 1982.