Back in June, Danny Elfman shared his first album in 37 years, Big Mess. One of the many musicians recruited for the studio sessions was Robin Finck, the longest-running touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails. Well, it seems like that just wasn’t enough to curb Elfman’s NIN hunger: Today, the idiosyncratic composer has shared a reimagined version of the Big Mess single “True” from none other than Trent Reznor.
As can be expected with most things Reznor, the update of “True” cranks up the track’s industrial elements for five minutes of transfixing and brutally sludging instrumentals. Both Elfman and Reznor sing here, marking the former’s first-ever proper duet put to tape. “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,” Elfman said in a press release. “He’s always been a big inspiration to me, not to mention he has one of my all-time favorite singing voices.”
The music video for the “True” remix, directed by Aron Johnson, splices archived footage from the original “True” music video with 3D modeling and plenty of visual effects. Check it out below.
Elfman also recently shared a reimagining of “Insects,” a song originally released in 1982 by the new wave band he founded, Oingo Boingo. You can read our interview with Elfman about the making of Big Mess here.
As for Reznor, he and his NIN bandmate Atticus Ross produced the upcoming Halsey album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, due later this month.
