by Alex Goode
Danny Elfman is a name that you likely are familiar with. Maybe you remember him as the frontman of Oingo Boingo, or maybe you know him from his multiple collaborations with Tim Burton, but, whatever the reason may be, it's very likely that you know who he is. Well, as of October of 2020, he's back. He's releasing original music again, not just film scores! He started releasing a flurry of singles over the course of eight months, starting in October of 2020 and ending in May of 2021, which ultimately led to the June 2021 release of Big Mess, his first solo studio album since 1894's So-Lo (unless you consider that an Oingo Boingo project, like a bunch of people do). I'm a little late to it, I know, but I've been working on projects of my own recently and I haven't had a lot of time for blogs. That's gonna change, though. I'm gonna try and get these out semi-regularly, and I'm starting with a late review of Danny Elfman's Big Mess. There's a beefy tracklist, 18 songs in total, so I better get started.
I think a good place to start with this is by talking about the singles from it, given how there were quite a few of them. In fact, the album opens with two of them: "Sorry" and "True, respectively. "Sorry" is a great song, and an absolutely explosive way to kick off the record. The buzzing distortion guitars, the drumming pattern that sounds pissed off, the female backup vocalists, even the occasional string sections and synths, all of them come together perfectly for a monstrous banger. The flow Danny goes for with his singing inflections is a little strange, but his lyrics are solid. And the mix is very good also, as is the sound of Elfman's voice. When he hits those high notes on the "I can't breathe when you're alive" lyric, it sounds so electric and powerful. The following track, "True", keeps up the manic vibe that "Sorry" started very nicely. The stuttering strings and heavy, industrial bass sound so good together. Danny's voice sounds a little shaky while he's singing the verses, seems like they're just ever so slightly out of his range, but that's really the only complaint I have about this song. Everything else about it is so damn good: The guitar solo in the middle, the lyrics, the occasional piano bits sprinkled in every so often, the simple yet effective drumline, the "It's just like me to plan tomorrow/It's just like me to forget what it was" couplet. This song goes super hard, and I even like the remix that threw in Trent Reznor. They made for a very good combination. You know what's not good, though? The song "Kick Me". I thought it was the worst song in the lineup of singles, and, now that the whole album is out, I think it's the worst track on the whole project. The structure and mix of this song is absolute trash. The only good part of this song is that short section when the strings sound like a classic Beethoven piece and Danny's vocals sound like they're coming out of an intercom, but that only lasts for about three seconds. Everything else about this song is garbage. Every single instrument is played in a choppy, staccato fashion, and it just sounds so ugly mixed together. The lyrics are badly written (and sung), the drumming sounds like it's not in the same time signature as the rest of the instrumentation, the electric guitars sound like they're not in the right key, Danny sounds like he's perpetually out of breath. Not even the Death Grips association with the Zach Hill remix can save this song, it's just awful. At least it's the shortest track on the LP, clocking in at 2:11, so it doesn't last too long while it's on. That's something, I guess.
Moving on from the worst single, we have the best single: "Happy". This was the first of the singles that was released to tease this album, and it's probably my favorite thing Danny has ever made that's not a movie score. It's so much fun, I love it. The bells, the strings, the horns, the different voices Elfman does in the vocals, it's a lot of fun to listen to. The instrumental sounds like something Danny would compose for a movie. The parts where it explodes into a hard rock banger are so nicely done, they give the track so much hype. I bet this song would go crazy live. I also enjoy the way the song is structured. There's repeating words and phrases, but there's no proper chorus. It's a bunch of verses connected by multiple bridges and interludes, and it's very nicely put-together. He also namedrops Minecraft near the end, so that was pretty cool. Another one of my favorites among the singles is "Love in the Time of Covid". I love the bouncy strings, the heavy distortion of the guitars, the "yeah yeah yeah" ad-libs just before the first verse. Some of the synths in the post-chorus remind me of Crash Twinsanity for some reason, and the lyrics are horny. Very, very horny. This is best emphasized by the title, the overall theme, and the outro. I'm pretty sure he just flat out says "I wanna have sex" at one point, if that tells you anything. For a lack of a better word, this song bangs. Danny's vocals sound great, his delivery is on point, the lyrics are more straightforward but still effective, and the same can be said for the structure in general. The hook is just a chanting of the title, but I love the vocal layering on it. This is a great song. And the final single, as well as the last track on the album overall, is "Insects". It's a heavier reworking of the Oingo Boingo song, and I think it's done well. It's a good, energetic closer for the project. He says the word "suck" a lot in this song, which gets a little old after a while, but the rest of the lyrics are pretty solid overall. I like the groove of the drumming and the guitar patterns, Danny's vocal delivery is pretty fun, his voice in general sounds nice on this track, the playful way he sings the word "dance" in the verses is pretty goofy (it gives me Nightmare Before Christmas vibes). This song is mixed nicely as well, it's overall a pretty fun track. I like what Danny did here, and I'm hoping longtime Boingo fans will enjoy how he reworked the original. I sure do, and I'm not even that big on the band.
From here on out are the new songs, the remaining 12 cuts on the tracklist that aren't singles. For starters, there's the song that immediately follows "True". It's called "In Time", and I think it's pretty interesting. The instrumental sounds like it came out of the Pirates of the Caribbean OST, Danny's vocal delivery and inflections are nice, the lyrics are fascinating. It's an okay track, but Danny really needs to take a few steps away from the mic. He sounds like his mouth is pressed directly on it as he's singing, and it makes me very uncomfortable. Every time he sings a word with the letter K in it, it makes my skin crawl. I can hear the saliva buildup under his tongue while he's singing, and I really don't like it. Other than that, this song is pretty cool. The instrumentation is the best part of it. "Devil Take Away" is another song I find to be just okay. I enjoy how Elfman's vocals are mixed into the instrumentation, and the lyrics are pretty solid, but the rest of the track doesn't do much for me. The drumming falls into the "Kick Me" staccato flow way too often for me to fully get into it, the ending is jarringly abrupt (almost the point of it feeling unfinished), the guitar pattern is cool but unmemorable. Ultimately, I think it's a fine song, it just doesn't do much for the project outside of lengthen it. "We Belong" is probably the softest song on the whole album, which is a nice change of pace. Danny's voice sounds like a mixture of Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld during this track, which I think was a pretty fun choice. The whole instrumental for this one is made up of strings and the slightest hints of synths, and I think it works well for the more chilled out vibe. It also features what I would argue is some of the most experimental and unique lyricism on the whole album. This song would probably make for a good lullaby, and I mean that in a good way. I'm intrigued by the fact that this track is immediately followed by "Happy" in the tracklist, though, that seems a little out of place to me. And then there's the track that comes after "Happy", called "Just a Human". I don't think it does a good job of keeping up the energy that "Happy" fills me with, but that doesn't mean it's bad. I like it quite a bit, actually. The instrumental is simultaneously grand and manic, the lyrics strike me as being very personal to Danny (which is good), and the energy starts to pick up near the end. That outro is genuinely great, one of the high points on the project. I can also tell that it was one of the first tracks recorded for the project, cause Danny's voice doesn't sound as tired on here as it does on tracks like "True" and "Sorry".
There's a few tracks that I was a little nervous to hear just based on the titles, one of them being "Better Times". Going off of the name, I expected it to be Danny reminiscing about how much better life was pre-Corona, and, thankfully, it's not. Or, at least, it doesn't read like that's what it is if that's what it was meant to be. I get more political undertones from it, personally, just a shame that the wording is kinda vague for most of it. It's like he's trying to say something without saying anything. I dig this song a lot, though. The bassline is smooth, the vocals sound super clean, the melody of the guitars is nice, the lyrics are solid, Danny's deliveries and harmonies (with the exception of the start of the second verse) are pleasant on the ears. There's also some sections in the instrumental that sounds like Danny plugged a violin into a distortion amp, which is a pretty creative idea if that's what he did. It made for a cool sound. Another song title that had me a little skeptical is "Get Over It", but, by the grace of God, the track is not as pretentious as its name. The political undertones are back for this one, and they're a bit more heavy-handed this time around (i.e. "the devil lives in a big white house", I see what you did there), but it didn't stick out to me as much as it did on "Better Times". I think that this song is fun. It has a good, steady string section, the more tambourine-heavy drumming is very appreciated, and I actually think the more spaced out style of guitar pattern works a lot better on here than it did on "Kick Me". There's times when the guitars line up with Danny's vocals, and it adds a lot to it. Danny does a good job on this song also, both in vocal performance and in lyricism. It's 4 minutes in length, but it doesn't feel like it. That is a good thing. Now, if you want a longer song that feels long, you're gonna love "Everybody Loves You". For me personally, it's another song I'm mixed on. It started out very slow, but progressively got more and more entertaining as it went on. I will say, though, it probably has my favorite lyrical passage on the whole album. For a few minutes, it turns into a pretty viscous attack on someone who Danny is glad to no longer have in his life. Is it an unfaithful ex? Most likely, given the repeated usage of the phrase "it's another man". I don't really know, but he goes in on whoever it is. He's out for blood on this one, and I'm here for it all the way. I wish the rest of the track was as brutal as that brief passage is, but I don't think it is. The instrumental is very bland, and the guitars sound like they're out of tune for the whole thing. This song is mostly just meh to me.
I find "Native Intelligence" to be fun to listen to while its on, but ultimately not very memorable in the grand scheme of the tracklist. Outside of the "taking a bath in cyanide" refrain on the hook, the lyrics don't really seem to be saying anything of note. Feels like he's talking just to talk on this one, there's not much going on with it. The instrumental is nice, though, and I enjoy the way the song is structured. Danny's voice is clear in tone and vibrant in sound, and some of the melodies (especially on the chorus) are incredibly catchy and will very likely end up stuck in my head after I finish writing this. All in all: Not a bad track, just not very memorable. I have somewhat of the opposite opinion on "Cruel Compensation", though. The instrumental is pretty meh for the most part, nothing happened that stuck out to me as being particularly memorable, but I really like the lyrics. The story it tells is intriguing. I don't know if it's told from Danny's perspective, or from that of an unnamed character, but I really enjoy the imagery it gives off. The repeat usage of "It's not like me to feel this way" implies that the experiences he's dealing with are new to him, and he's scared of what might happen. That's not the most original concept in the world, but I dig what Danny brings to the conversation. I will say, though, some of the vocal inflections Danny uses when delivering the lyrics doesn't lead to a very consistent flow at times. It sometimes sounds a little sloppily sung. And then there's the track "Choose Your Side", which is probably the most blatant political statement on the project. It opens with a sample of Donald Trump's voice, and the lyrics seem to be Danny questioning how he rose to power in the first place. I'm not a Trump supporter, if you didn't know, so I'm okay with this message (I too wonder that from time to time). I will say, though, the way he handles the whole "pick a side" angle is where it starts to feel a little forced. It's not a bad thing that he went that route, it's a pretty valid thing to say all things considered, but I don't think he did it in a very creative way. Also, the instrumental interlude that bridges from the post-chorus to the second verse is ugly. Oh my God, that is easily the worst sounding musical passage on this entire LP. Every instrument sounds like they're out of tune (possibly even broken), but they really wanna do a solo anyway, and it just sounds awful. It comes together like peanut butter and battery acid. I do like Danny's vocal performance on here, though. The way the melody and the harmony mixes together makes for a very good sound. Danny sounds confident, like he has a lot to say. It's one of his best vocal tracks on the project, I think.
I'm very fascinated by "Serious Ground". The lyrics are interesting, for starters. There's moments when it reads like a statement on cancel culture, but it's handled with more dignity and care than it usually is when artists comment on it. Specifically, there's the lyrics "And you thought that you'd never see the day/When the whole damn thing could be taken away/When the crowd starts waving that serious flag/And the boots start marching, there ain't no turning back". That, to me, is the biggest piece of evidence to suggest that this track is Danny talking about the way being cancelled has the potential to affect people. Setting the lyrics aside, I also like the instrumental on this one. The back-and-forth play-style of the string section sounds like something that would play in Sea of Thieves, the distortion guitar sounds spooky, it has a simple but very groovy drumline. Danny's voice is very good on this track, as well. There's a section in the middle when he does a spot-on Leonard Cohen impression. It's almost uncanny how much he sounds like Leonard on this section, I wonder if it was intentional. I'd also say that this song is mixed decently, though the slightly distorted vocal effect on Elfman's voice is sometimes a bit too much. It makes his voice sound kinda echo-y, and it hurts my ears a little bit. I think this song, as a whole, is pretty interesting, though. One of the more unique cuts on the project. Why wasn't this released as a single? And that leads me to the only other track that I haven't talked about yet, "Dance With the Lemurs". Firstly, great title. I would absolutely love to do that, yes. Secondly, this song is yet another mixed bag for me. I enjoy the introspective lyrics, the steady guitar strumming, the very pretty string section, and the more laid back drumming. However, the mixing isn't the best, Danny's vocal performance is kinda bland, the song structure is a little too formulaic. There's also a really out of place vocal sample that starts playing in the middle of the song, it sounds like a robot saying "whoa" in a very heavily autotuned voice. It sounds like something that came from a Daft Punk song, and it really should've stayed there. Something like that doesn't fit in well in a song like this unless it's handled super creatively, and it really isn't in this care. This wasn't the best song to end on, is what I'm trying to get at here. I can tell it's very personal to Danny, and I'm glad he was brave enough to share it with his audience, but I feel like the message could've been handled with greater care.
Overall, Big Mess is exactly that. The title summarizes this album better than I ever could. There's a lot of songs on here that I can see myself coming back to a lot, but there's an equal number of tracks that I'd be fine with never hearing again. My favorite tracks were "Happy", "Love in the Time of Covid", "Better Times", "We Belong", and "Sorry". And my least favorite tracks were "Kick Me" and, I guess, "Choose Your Side", with the latter being for the delivery rather than the message. All in all, I'm feeling a 5.5/10 on Big Mess. It's pretty average, but it just barely scrapes over the level of pure mediocrity. I probably won't listen to it in full ever again, but quite a few of the tracks are gonna go in my vibe playlists. If he comes back with another album, I'll probably still check it out. Looking forward to hearing what he does with the Doctor Strange 2 soundtrack, he has a pretty good track record with scoring superhero movies.
