Film composer, singer and songwriter Danny Elfman has teamed up with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor for a new version of the song True. You can watch the video for the new collaboration below.
True originally appeared on Elfman's latest solo album Big Mess, which was released through ANTI- / Epitaph Records in June. The reimagined single showcases a sonic collision of two of music’s most iconic artists, melding vocals from Reznor and Elfman with vicious industrial percussion, cinematic piano flares and walls of feedback.
“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,” says Elfman. “He’s always been a big inspiration to me, not to mention he has one of my all-time favourite singing voices.”
The new video has been directed by Aron Johnson, who contributed visual effects to the Sarah Sitkin-directed music video for the album version of True. The piece features warped imagery and retro VHS aesthetics that capture the song’s intensity. Combining segments of Sitkin's archived footage along with brand new 3D modeling, the visual serves as a remix in itself of the original music video, reinterpreted through the eyes of Johnson.
Big Mess was almost entirely created spontaneously during quarantine in 2020. The album began as an experiment for Elfman, as he wanted to combine aggressive rock band and orchestral strings in a way that had not been heavily explored. What ensued was an ambitious project that draws on a dystopian palette of distorted electric guitars, industrial synthesizers and orchestral elements.
Elfman has previously released eye-catching videos for Sorry and Love In The Time Of Covid.
