Massive Attack is reissuing Mezzanine as DNA inside an aerosol spray can, like you do
In April, Massive Attack revealed it would celebrate the 20th anniversary of its seminal Mezzanine by encoding it into 920,000 actual strands of DNA, which, cool? While it was neat to hear how the process could preserve the album for “hundreds to thousands of years,” fans were maybe a little more interested in next month’s physical reissue of the album.
It turns out, however, that the trip-hop legends also had a release plan for the DNA editions of Mezzanine. According to a press release, the band will release aerosol cans filled with black spray paint infused with that very same DNA. Each can is said to carry one million copies of the album, which should provide you plenty of stocking stuffers for the holiday season.
“It’s a creative way to store your back catalogue, although DNA-encoded spray paint is unlikely to be adopted by street artists seeking anonymity,” says the band’s 3D in a press release, a winking nod perhaps to the longstanding rumors that the artist is also Banksy.
It’s a neat idea that also raises awareness for what could be a viable future storage solution. Back when the band first announced the project, they said that DNA encoding “could be an answer to the problem of archiving the increasing amount of information that the world is creating.”
In the meantime, take a look at the final product below and pray that nobody tries to spray this stuff in their ears.