Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter have officially launched their new collaborative project Misfits Together with “Oh America (1951)”, the first single from an upcoming album inspired by the lives and relationship of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Joining the Bastille frontman and To Kill A King singer-songwriter within the project is Moira Mack, whose distinctive vocals bring a Monroe-inspired presence to the music and help establish the identity of Misfits Together as more than a conventional collaboration.
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“Oh America (1951)” serves as the opening track to the forthcoming self-titled Misfits Together album, taking listeners back to the politically charged atmosphere of 1950s America. Rather than simply looking back at the era through nostalgia, Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter use the story of Monroe and Miller to explore issues surrounding political persecution, sexism, celebrity, artistic freedom, and the pressure placed upon people who refused to conform.
The song introduces a project that deliberately crosses musical boundaries, with Misfits Together bringing together elements of indie, folk, and orchestral pop alongside hip-hop-influenced beats. Strong, passionate vocals hit with power and integrity, with Ralph Pelleymounter delivering every word with conviction and bringing his storytelling to life, instantly connecting with the audience and making each lyric resonate. The result is a sound that can move between intimate songwriting and much larger arrangements, reflecting the contrasting worlds of Hollywood glamour, political tension, and the deeply personal relationship at the heart of the story.
Moira Mack is an important part of that sound. Known for her work with Bastille, Mack contributes vocals throughout the album, with her performances drawing inspiration from Marilyn Monroe and providing an emotional thread across the record. Alongside Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter, she also features prominently in the visual identity of the project, with the trio appearing together in promotional imagery as the faces of Misfits Together.
The album itself was produced by multi-instrumentalist Will Bloomfield and recorded during the summer of 2025 at Bloomfield’s Dairy Studios in Brixton, with additional recording sessions taking place in Suffolk and at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Alongside Moira Mack, the record features contributions from long-time Bastille live guitarist Charlie Barnes and singer Ruti, further expanding the musical world created by Smith and Pelleymounter.
What began with songs written around piano and guitar eventually developed into a much more expansive production. “Oh America (1951)” therefore provides the first glimpse of how those early ideas have evolved into the fully realised sound of Misfits Together, while also introducing a project that is ultimately intended to exist beyond the album.
For Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter, Misfits Together represents their first experience of writing specifically for a musical. Although the songs are now being released as an album, they will eventually become part of a much larger theatrical production based around Monroe and Miller’s story.
Talking about the project, Dan Smith says, “We’re so excited to be releasing these songs as we first heard and wrote them. They continue to morph and change for the stage as the show develops, and naturally they’ll be sung and represented by other people, so we loved the idea of sharing where they started, performed by us. We’re really proud of this album and have loved the recording process.”
He continued by saying, “We’ve been lucky to work with so many brilliant musicians and artists: Moira, Ruti, Charlie, and to have Will as the producer helping realise the sound of the album and turn our demos into what you’ll get to hear over the coming months. We wanted to present these songs as they are now and give people a chance to get to know the music before the Misfits Together storytelling expands, becoming the Made at Curve musical the world will see in autumn 2027 (which is something we can’t believe we get to say!).”
The historical subject matter also gives the project a contemporary relevance, with Ralph Pelleymounter noting that many of the conflicts surrounding Monroe and Miller’s lives remain recognisable decades later. That includes the political polarisation of the period, sexism within the entertainment industry, and the threat of being blacklisted for one’s beliefs or associations.
Ralph Pelleymounter added, “This is a 75-year-old story and yet it still feels so relevant: the polarising politics, the sexism, the threat of career-ending blacklists, all feel like they could be from today’s newspapers. We wanted the music to reflect this, so we created a collection of songs that we hope to feel modern and timeless. This is the first time Dan and myself have written songs for a musical, and we enjoyed the sense of freedom and play that comes with exploring a brand-new creative medium.”
He expanded by saying, “As a guitarist, I’ll often put myself in a tuning new to me to find inspiration, this was like that but on an entirely new level. During this entire process there was this weight of responsibility—I know we all felt—that comes with telling other people’s stories, especially when, as with Marilyn, someone died so young and so were robbed of the chance to tell their own. I hope we’ve brought new life to this poignant, powerful story.”
While Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter are responsible for the music and lyrics, the presence of Moira Mack gives the project another dimension, particularly through the connection between her vocals and the Marilyn Monroe inspiration running through Misfits Together. Her performances help bridge the gap between the album’s contemporary musical approach and the Hollywood icon whose life provides one of its central foundations.
The wider story will eventually make its way to the stage through MISFITS TOGETHER, a new musical being developed by Leicester‘s Curve Theatre and produced by Made at Curve. Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter have created the music and lyrics alongside Charlotte Bogard Macleod, who has written the book, with Curve Artistic Director Nikolai Foster directing the production.
Set in 1950s America, the musical follows Monroe and Miller as they navigate their relationship while confronting an industry and political landscape dominated by status, power, and fear. Monroe is presented as an artist fighting to establish greater control over her own image and career, while Miller faces the consequences of refusing to denounce others during the era of political blacklisting.
The production will feature songs from the Misfits Together album, meaning “Oh America (1951)” is not simply the beginning of a standalone record but the first musical introduction to a story that will eventually be brought to life on stage.
The Misfits Together album is scheduled for release on March 12, 2027, giving listeners the opportunity to experience the songs in their original form before the project develops further for the theatre. The world premiere of MISFITS TOGETHER will then take place at Curve’s Studio Theatre in Leicester from September 4 to September 25, 2027.
For now, “Oh America (1951)” puts Dan Smith and Ralph Pelleymounter at the forefront of Misfits Together, offering the first taste of a genre-spanning project that looks back at Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller while finding connections between their world and the one audiences live in today.
“Oh America (1951)”, by Misfits Together, Bastille, Dan Smith, and Ralph Pelleymounter, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms, via Best Laid Plans Records, Tequila King Records, and Abbey Road Recordings, under exclusive licence to Universal Music.
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