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Nine Inch Nails
Ghosts I-IV

The Null Corporation

Posted: Friday, March 07, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Trent Reznor, the musical mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, has certainly shown an influx of creative energy in the last several years. 2007's Year Zero came but a mere two years after the previous album, With Teeth, which seemed unprecedented given the long wait between that album and 1999's The Fragile. The album marked a renewed vigor in the elements that defined for many what made Nine Inch Nails' music so appealing, due in no small part to Reznor's collaboration with co-producers Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder. Now, barely a year later, Reznor embarks on what is perhaps his most ambitious project, from a musical and a marketing standpoint. Ghosts I-IV presents listeners with 36 instrumental tracks spanning four nine-track EPs, recorded during a 10 week period during the autumn of 2007.

From the musical standpoint, Ghosts presents much of what we've come to know and love from Nine Inch Nails. As most tracks stay within or under the five-minute range, each song acts more as a vignette - like soundtracks to scenes from an unseen film, building in atmosphere, but never reaching the crescendo one would expect from a vocalized rock song. As such, it can be quite daunting to listen to the music on Ghosts as each track steadily builds anticipation for an explosive climax that never quite arrives. Nonetheless, there is much to be said for the sonic variety offered, from the sparse and morose pianos that permeate throughout the album, bringing to mind many of the instrumental passages from The Fragile. As with any NIN album, there is a regular cast of guest musicians, and Adrian Belew's exuberant guitar solos, many of which border on absolute noise, do well to color tracks like "4 Ghosts I," "7 Ghosts I," "11 Ghosts II," and especially "31 Ghosts IV." We also have The Dresden Dolls' Brian Viglione drumming away on "19 Ghosts III" and "22 Ghosts III," as well as Alessandro Cortini contributing to tracks like "20 Ghosts III," in which a series of oscillating sustain and static guitar noises build up to an almost bluesy rock song laced with light pianos, and "33 Ghosts IV," where a mechanized beat reminiscent of "Closer" leads into plenty of distorted, crackling synth manipulations. What is also interesting is the range of influences incorporated into these tracks. Some tracks bear resemblance to the sound collages of Einstürzende Neubauten, such as the metallic percussion that laces "10 Ghosts II" and "19 Ghosts III," while others like "8 Ghosts I" sound almost like stoner rock jam sessions similar to what one would expect to hear from Queens of the Stone Age. Elements of shoegazer and dark ambience also appear throughout, helping to make Ghosts a varied listening experience given consistency by those signature sounds and atmospheres Reznor and company have become known for.

For an artist who has been hailed by some and berated by others for exposing industrial music to the mainstream, credit must be given to Trent Reznor for his ability to mesh experimental sounds and styles with commercial accessibility. This extends to the promotional aspect as Year Zero made extensive use of viral marketing and an alternate reality game. Now with Ghosts, Reznor takes things even further; now released from his longtime label Interscope Records, Reznor takes his "free agent" status to new lengths, releasing Ghosts under a Creative Commons license that would allow fans and listeners access to the multitrack files for remixing and sampling. The album is also being released in a number of different formats, beginning as a digital release, and soon to include CD, vinyl, and deluxe editions (most of which have already sold out within hours of the pre-order release). It is just this sort of marketing campaign that is not only keeping Nine Inch Nails alive as an exciting and creative force, but also provides a lesson for many of those bands looking to make an impact in modern music, whether they be in the mainstream or the underground. All in all, Ghosts I-IV may not be the musical masterpiece many consider The Downward Spiral to be, but it does prove that Nine Inch Nails have hardly run the wellspring of experimentation dry.