Danny Elfman drops video for new version of Oingo Boingo’s ‘Insects’

Elfman’s first solo album since 1984 is set to land next month

Danny Elfman has released the latest single from his forthcoming second solo album, a rework of Oingo Boingo’s 1982 track ‘Insects’.

The track first appeared on Oingo Boingo’s second LP, ‘Nothing To Fear’. Elfman, who rose to prominence in the ‘80s as the new-wave icons’ frontman, was inspired to revisit the track after trawling through the Oingo Boingo catalogue at the start of 2020.

“I was preparing a live show for Coachella,” he said in a press release. “I’d been looking for old Boingo songs that connected to the dystopian nightmare I found myself immersed in at that moment in time living in America.

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“As I played around with different songs, it occurred to me that ‘Insects’ made sense. Who were the ‘Insects,’ the blood suckers of today? It was obvious to me – they all hived together in Washington and seemed to thrive on sucking the rational sense of reality out of our brains.”

Watch the video for Elfman’s new version of ‘Insects’ below.

The video, directed by Sam and Andy Rolfes, was created in VR using over 80 digital puppets. On the concept behind it, Sam Rolfes said, “Every microsecond of waking life, a relentless digital swarm of information and virtual noise slowly consumes our minds, rendering us like insects being driven by manic buzzing stimuli.

“That said, more legs means better dancing. The video for ‘Insects’ starts off very ordinarily, following Danny Elfman as he gets ready for the day, meets some friends for lunch, but then is slowly consumed by a ravenous swarm of online static.”

Elfman’s new version of ‘Insects’ will appear on his forthcoming album ‘Big Mess’, due June 11 through ANTI-/Epitaph. The double-length release will be the Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer’s first solo offering in 37 years, following the 1984 release of ‘So-Lo’.

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‘Insects’ follows previously released singles ‘Happy’, ‘Sorry’, ‘Love In The Time Of Covid’, ‘Kick Me’ and ‘True’. Last month, Death Grips drummer Zach Hill released a glitchy remix of ‘Kick Me’.

Alongside the release of ‘Big Mess’, Elfman is keeping busy throughout 2021 with several Hollywood film scores on the table. He was recently announced to be working with longtime collaborator Sam Raimi to score Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which Raimi is directing.

Earlier this month, Elfman candidly admitted he was “terribly unhappy” with his score for the 1989 Batman film, citing a lack of care put into the recording.

“They did it in the old-school way where you do the score and turn it into the ‘professionals’ who turn the nobs and dub it in,” he explained. “And dubbing had gotten really wonky in those years.”

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