Dead Man’s Bones Recorded Their First Song in 17 Years on a Farm in One Day
Dead Man's Bones, Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields, in a press photograph
Dead Man's Bones, Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields, in a press photograph
Dead Man’s Bones are back. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields have released “Lost in the Night”, their first new music since the duo’s self-titled debut in 2009, and it is out now on ANTI- Records, the label that put out that first album seventeen years ago. The timing is no accident: it lands days before Halloween, the holiday their ghost-story aesthetic has always circled.
The story of how it was made is as much a part of the release as the song. After several Los Angeles studios failed to give them the sound they wanted, Gosling and Shields took two guitars, two drum machines and two synthesizers to a farm outside the city and recorded the track in a single day.
How a Farm Outside Los Angeles Saved the Session
The studio search is the detail every outlet has picked up, because it explains the record. Dead Man’s Bones were never a polished band, and the farm session was a way back to that. They worked with producer Tim Anderson, described as a longtime collaborator, chasing what Noise11 describes as “a raw, immediate performance” rather than studio gloss.
The setting is audible. The Needle Drop notes that crickets and frogs can be heard in the background of the recording, which turns the farm from an anecdote into part of the track’s texture. For a band whose first album was obsessed with ghosts and night-time, a song that keeps the sound of the countryside in the mix fits almost too neatly.
The kit list is short on purpose. Two guitars, two drum machines and two synthesizers is the setup of a home demo, not a comeback single from one of the most recognisable actors in the world. That restraint is the point, and it is why the song sounds the way it does.
What Lost in the Night Sounds Like
The 2009 album leaned on a children’s choir, doo-wop and haunted-house theatre. “Lost in the Night” goes somewhere leaner. Stereogum calls it “reverb-heavy, atmospheric goth-rock with just the slightest hint of rockabilly”, and notes that the children’s choir is absent this time.
The press release names Bruce Springsteen and Suicide as touchpoints, which is a precise pairing: the stark, drum-machine pulse of Suicide under the big emotional sweep of Springsteen. Noise11 hears new wave synthesizers and post-punk guitars in the mix, and describes the shift as a move away from the debut’s “elaborate, haunted-house atmosphere towards a leaner electronic sound”.
Consequence points to “more synths” than before and what it calls “Springsteen-esque wandering from Gosling on the mic”. In the lyric, Gosling’s narrator wants a lover back, asking someone to “chase it all away”, to “break this spell on us” and to “call for me”. ANTI- sums it up as “a shadowy but undeniably hopeful homemade anthem that hints at an exciting new direction for the duo”, and the hopeful part matters: this is a love song wearing a horror costume, not the other way round.
A Black-and-White Video for Two Night Wanderers
The song comes with a black-and-white video starring Noah Jupe and Rain Spencer. The two leave a cemetery and wander lamplit city streets through the night, dancing and holding each other, according to Noise11 and The Needle Drop.
Consequence describes the video as “romantic and sweet”, which plays against the mysterious mood of the music. Stereogum notes that no director is credited. The cemetery-to-city story carries the same mix of spooky and tender that runs through the song.
Remembering the Album That Started It
Gosling and Shields met in 2005 and bonded over a shared fascination with ghosts, supernatural stories and Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride. Their debut, released on 6 October 2009 on ANTI-, was recorded with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir and blended gothic folk, vintage rock and roll, doo-wop and theatrical storytelling, in the label’s own words.
They set themselves strict rules for that album, according to Noise11: they played every instrument themselves, used no click tracks and allowed a maximum of three takes per song. The record made MOJO’s top 50 albums of 2009, at No. 43, and the pair played live shows around Halloween that year, Stereogum recalls.
Then both men went back to their day jobs, and the album took on a second life. The Needle Drop notes that it built a cult following over the years through online discovery and placements in film and television, which is how a 2009 record ended up with an audience waiting seventeen years for a follow-up.
The Ghost Stories Behind the Band
The spooky streak in Dead Man’s Bones is not a marketing angle; it goes back to childhood for both men. According to Noise11, Shields received therapy as a child because of how preoccupied he was with ghosts, and Gosling’s family moved out of a home they believed was haunted.
When the two met in 2005 they found they shared the fascination, and the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland became a running reference point, Stereogum and Noise11 both recall. The band’s name and the haunted-house sound of the first album came straight out of that shared interest.
That history is why the new single does not read as a celebrity side project. The debut was recognised on its own terms, landing in MOJO’s top 50 of 2009 and among AllMusic’s favourite rock albums of the year, and “Lost in the Night” keeps the same instincts while changing the instruments. The ghosts are still there; they have just swapped a children’s choir for drum machines.
The release was timed for Halloween, The Needle Drop notes, and that is a natural fit. The duo played live shows around Halloween in 2009, and the debut’s ghost-story songs make it a natural pick for the season.
Dropping a new song in the last week of October puts it in front of exactly that audience at the moment they are most likely to go looking. It also gives the single a hook beyond the novelty of a film star’s band returning: it is a new Dead Man’s Bones song in the one week of the year their music fits best.
Two Busy Careers Outside the Band
The gap is easy to explain. Gosling starred in Project Hail Mary this year and is set to lead Star Wars: Starfighter in 2027, Consequence notes. Shields has built a career in film writing and production: the ANTI- page credits him as a writer and producer on Gladys, the upcoming prequel to Weapons, and on Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, and he wrote and directed the play Dad’s Leg.
The return was teased before it arrived. Eva Mendes hinted at the comeback on Instagram earlier in October, according to Consequence.
Is More Dead Man’s Bones Music on the Way?
Nothing beyond the single has been confirmed. An Instagram post accompanying the release indicated that more is coming, but no album or tour has been announced, and Stereogum says it is not yet clear whether “Lost in the Night” is a one-off or part of a larger project. A limited 12-inch vinyl edition is available through the band’s official channels.
Long silences can end loudly, as this month has already shown: The Avalanches led a big album Friday with the 31-track No Bad Memories. Whether Dead Man’s Bones follow “Lost in the Night” with a full record or leave it as a single, the song is out now, it is short on gear and long on atmosphere, and it arrives exactly when the band’s fans would want it: the last week of October.
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