On Ghosts V and VI, Nine Inch Nails Soundtrack the Unthinkable

For so many of us, at least those fortunate enough to have adequate shelter and internet access in parts of the world bracing for the inevitable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last few weeks have unfolded in a delirious mix of coziness and dread—two sensations that would be utterly incompatible under any other circumstances. If you’re among the lucky ones who hasn’t already succumbed or lost a loved one to the deadly virus currently sweeping across the globe, the directive has been to remain in your dwelling and, basically, chill out while you wait for people around you to start dying. Never have the creature comforts of music, books, podcasts, TV, film and online connectivity felt like such a lifeline as our collective future hangs in the balance.

In order to help us navigate the emotional paradox we now find ourselves in, Nine Inch Nails surprise-dropped a pair of free instrumental albums that mastermind Trent Reznor and longtime creative partner Atticus Ross constructed in direct response to the crisis. Reznor’s accompanying statement—a letter he opens by addressing his audience as “Friends”—makes it abundantly clear that he and Ross are going through the exact same spin-cycle of feelings too: “As the news seems to turn ever more grim by the hour, we’ve found ourselves vacillating wildly between feeling like there may be hope at times to utter despair—often changing minute to minute. Although each of us define ourselves as antisocial-types who prefer being on our own, this situation has really made us appreciate the power and need for CONNECTION.”

If you happen to be going through the now-obligatory self-quarantine period entirely alone, you don’t need to be reminded of the irony of the moment, with so much of the world forced to seek human contact by whatever remote means we can—solitary confinement with WiFi, essentially. Reznor’s got your back. The first of the two albums, titled Ghosts V: Together aims at fostering this feeling, writing that “things might all be okay” as we rely on each other in the ways that we can. “Music,” the letter continues, “has always had a way of making us feel a little less alone in the world… and hopefully it does for you, too. Remember, everyone is in this thing together and this too shall pass.” About the second of the two albums, Ghosts VI: Locusts, Reznor offers only that “…well, you’ll figure it out.”

For an artist who made his reputation by diving head-first into the darkest wells of human emotion, Reznor’s instrumental work, starting with 2008’s double-album Ghosts I—IV (an album which was surprisingly sampled on Lil Nas X’s megahit “Old Town Road), has been mostly absent of the tension and catharsis that characterizes NIN’s more traditionally song-oriented material—or, to be more fair, Reznor and Ross approach the instrumental format with a far more subdued touch. In certain cases, like their score for 2017’s Ken Burns/Lynn Novick PBS documentary series The Vietnam War, the gravity of the subject matter provides ample drama on its own, so that the music need only function as a support for what’s on-screen. These days, as an endless cascade of real-life headlines spills into the cocooned safety of our living spaces, the drama is simultaneously unfolding on-screen and within—within our own thoughts and feelings and, most frighteningly, within our own cells in ways we can’t initially see.

Which is to say that Reznor and Ross were going to have to up the ante if they were going to match the scale and pitch of the situation at hand. In their seven instrumental releases leading up to now—from Ghosts I—IV to a string of six film scores including The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, etc.—the pair’s stock in trade has been clouds of sonic mist that don’t develop all that much, at most gradually morphing rather than going through defined sectional changes. With these two new installments of Ghosts, Reznor and Ross show more than ever that they can stir up powerful feelings and grip your attention while retaining the same sparseness that’s become their shared trademark. In this case, less does actually materialize into more.

Ghosts I—IV marked the first time that Nine Inch Nails presented itself as an ambient act in a genuine sense, but it’s arguably taken until now for Reznor and Ross to successfully solve the genre’s central conundrum: How do you induce a state of non-engagement while giving the audience a reason to keep listening? Where Reznor and Ross’ instrumentals would often just drift in and out of the frame in the past, Together’s mesmerizing title track highlights—perhaps for the first time—that Reznor and Ross can reach volcanic levels of intensity even when they dial things all the way down to a low simmer. The piece begins with a haunting solo acoustic piano motif that fans will immediately recognize as quintessential Reznor. Many Nine Inch Nails tunes off classic records like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile and With Teeth were built on piano melodies pretty much just like this one.