Big Black Delta is an electronic solo project of Jonathan Bates, frontman for Los Angeles indie rockers Mellowdrone. His music under the BBD moniker is equally influenced by hook-heavy '80s new wave and synthesizer-driven film soundtracks. The project's first output arrived in 2011 with BBDLP1, which was later refreshed on 2013's Big Black Delta. The independently released Trágame Tierra was issued in 2016, followed by the instrumental WHORU812 in 2017. After experiencing a pop culture resurgence in the late 2010s with the inclusion of early tracks "Huggin & Kissin" and "Capsize" to The Sinner, Bates released his fourth album, 4, in 2020.