Dead Man's Bones Return After 17 Years: Ryan Gosling's Band Promises New Music

Dead Man's Bones, the indie duo fronted by Ryan Gosling, will release new music on October 27 — their first material in 17 years. Eva Mendes, Gosling's partner, announced the reunion on social media after teasing it for days.

Mendes wrote that she was "Trying to summon new music from Dead Man's Bones," then followed up with: "He came through on his promise to me." She posted a video pairing the band's music with Halloween-themed visuals and children's vocals — the signature sound of their sole album.

Who are Dead Man's Bones?

Gosling formed the duo with Zach Shields in the late 2000s. Their self-titled debut arrived in 2009, a collaboration with the Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir. Rolling Stone described it at the time as "Arcade Fire, Tom Waits and the cast of Sesame Street performing a Kurt Weill musical."

The comparison earns its keep. The record drew on Disney's Haunted Mansion ride and on the Langley Schools Music Project's Innocence and Despair, a cult Seventies LP — unearthed in the early 2000s — on which untrained grade schoolers sang pop songs of their era.

The children were meant to carry the whole record. "When we first wrote the songs, all the vocals were for the children's choir to sing," Shields told Rolling Stone. "We were never going to sing on the record. But when we were working out the parts for them, we started singing and decided to make it into a duo between us and the kids."

Why did the band disappear?

The duo ceased activity soon after the album's release, despite well-deserved buzz. Gosling's Hollywood schedule grew more demanding. The personal circumstances that formed the band also dissolved: at the time, Gosling was dating Rachel McAdams, whose sister was dating Shields.

The band's cult only grew in absence. Cat Power covered "Pa Pa Power" in 2021, and the duo's songs have surfaced in films and TV series, especially after Gosling earned a Best Original Song nomination for "I'm Just Ken" from Barbie.

What happens on October 27?

That remains the open question. The announcement video promises "new music" — no format, tracklist or tour disclosed. It lands, fittingly, days before Halloween, the holiday that shaped the band's whole aesthetic.

One caveat hangs over the timing. Gosling has run viral stunts to promote recent films, and Star Wars: Starfighter reaches theaters on May 28. If the comeback is a marketing gambit rather than a genuine reunion, October 27 will reveal it. Either way, a 2009 cult favorite gets its first new audience in nearly two decades.