Dead Man’s Bones Unveil First New Song in 17 Years

After a short teaser clip lit up the internet with news of their return, Dead Man’s Bones—the duo of Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields—are officially back with their first new music in 17 years. “Lost in the Night” was produced with longtime collaborator Tim Anderson, and it gets a black-and-white music video starring Hamnet’s Noah Jupe and The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Rain Spencer that draws on its lovestruck lyrics. Check it out below.

Dead Man’s Bones set out to write new music in recent years, but couldn‘t settle on where to record it. The duo tried a number of Los Angeles studios before driving to a farm outside of the city with some gear in tow—two guitars, two drum machines, and two synthesizers—where they proceeded to record “Lost in the Night” in one day.

The first and only Dead Man’s Bones album came out in 2009. Gosling and Shields worked closely with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir, a California education organization founded by Flea, on their self-titled debut to achieve its cross of indie rock, gothic folk, and doo-wop. The duo retreated from the public eye after promoting their first album. However, they found renewed interest over the years through covers (like Cat Power tackling “Pa Pa Power” for her 2022 album Covers), various film and TV syncs, and a seasonal bump courtesy of social media users playing their music around Halloween.

Revisit Rob Mitchum’s review of Dead Man’s Bones.

Nina Corcoran joined Pitchfork as an Associate Staff Writer in 2021 after contributing to the website since 2015. She’s written for Rolling Stone, Wired, NPR, Stereogum, and elsewhere, and was previously the music editor of alt-weekly newspaper DigBoston. She’s based in Chicago. ... Read More