Nine Inch Nails Surprise Release Sequels to their ‘Ghost Series’
With the music industry pretty much dormant as far as live performances go, many musicians are getting busy in the studio writing and recording new tracks. Nine Inch Nails is no exception. The industrial rock band have surprise released a pair of sequels to the 2008 instrumental series, ‘Ghosts: Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts. The tracks are available for download on the NIN website.
The Ghosts series was originally released in 2008. It was their band’s first independent release after splitting with Interscope Records. It was released on Trent’s record label Null Corporation and licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Like the current releases, the original releases were also a surprise to audiences. The only hint Reznor gave fans regarding the album coming out was a post on the band’s website, saying ‘2 weeks’, which was published two weeks prior to the release.
The album is almost completely instrumental and features only a few sampled vocal tracks. It can be described as ‘dark ambient’.
The Ghosts album had its share of success. It was critically acclaimed and nominated for two Grammys. Two weeks after its release, Reznor also created a ‘film festival’ to accompany the album which was hosted on the Nine Inch Nails YouTube channel.
More recently, the album enjoyed a resurgence when Lil Nas X heavily sampled the tracks in his song ‘Old Town Road’. This led to Reznor winning a Country Music award.
When asked about his decision to release the sequels, here’s what Reznor had to say, “Weird times indeed… 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 defines ourselves as antisocial-types who prefer being on our own, this situation has really made us appreciate the power and need for connection. Music — whether listening to it, thinking about it or creating it — has always been the thing that helped us get through anything — good or bad. With that in mind, we decided to burn the midnight oil and complete these new Ghosts records as a means of staying somewhat sane.”
In regard to any sort of meaning that could be attached to the tracks, Reznor explained, ““Ghosts V: Together is for when things seem like it might all be OK, and Ghosts VI: Locusts… well, you’ll figure it out. It made us feel better to make these and it feels good to share them. Music 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.”
The tracks are available for free download on the NIN website and on Youtube. They will be released on other streaming services tonight. The meditative pieces are a timely albeit temporary panacea during difficult times.
