Dan Smith of Bastille and To Kill A King’s Ralph Pelleymounter have announced Misfits Together, a new album inspired by the lives and relationship of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Due March 12, 2027, the project is accompanied by its first single, “Oh America (1951),” and will also form the basis of a new musical scheduled to premiere at Leicester’s Curve Theatre in September 2027. The album uses Monroe and Miller’s relationship to explore love, identity, fame, artistic freedom, and 1950s America.
Smith and Pelleymounter recorded Misfits Together during summer 2025 with producer and multi-instrumentalist Will Bloomfield. Sessions took place at Dairy Studios in Brixton, in Suffolk, and at Abbey Road Studios in London. Bastille collaborator Moira Mack performs throughout the album, alongside Bastille live guitarist Charlie Barnes and singer Ruti. Smith said the pair wanted to release the songs in their current recorded form before they evolve for the stage, giving listeners an opportunity to become familiar with the music ahead of the theatrical production.
The accompanying musical was created by Smith and Pelleymounter, who wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by Charlotte Bogard Macleod. Nikolai Foster, Curve’s artistic director, will direct the Made at Curve production, which is presented by Curve and Tila Arts. It will run in the venue’s Studio Theatre from September 4 through September 25, 2027. Pelleymounter said the project marks the first time he and Smith have written songs for a musical, adding that they approached Monroe and Miller’s story with a “weight of responsibility” because they were interpreting the lives of real people.
The announcement follows Smith’s recent work on Bastille’s & (Ampersand) project, which began with the album’s release in 2024 and similarly used historical and cultural figures as the subjects of individual songs. In August 2025, Bastille released & (Ampersand), Part Four, featuring “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Bathsheba & Him,” “My Head & The Glass,” and “Bored & Overboard (Pandora’s Box).” The band returned to live dates in 2026, including the Eden Sessions in Cornwall on July 9 and Live at The Piece Hall in Halifax on August 28.
