WORDS MICHAEL LANIGAN
It has been five years since Nine Inch Nails released their last album, The Slip. During this time, Trent Reznor has become a respected figure in Hollywood, known primarily for his film scores. From his Oscar winning success, scoring both The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for David Fincher, to more underground moves such as composing the theme to Shinya Tsukamoto’s latest installation in the cyberpunk Tetsuo franchise, he is still an outsider subverting mainstream culture. These new ventures have clearly affected Hesitation Marks, with his soundtrack collaborator Atticus Ross on board for added measure. Straying from his industrial roots, Reznor constructs a cinematic, immaculately produced eclectic foray into country music, funk, African polyrhythms and R’n’B to exhibit a new scope on one of the most distinct bands in America.
What harnesses the Nine Inch Nails sound is now Reznor’s voice, while the music explores the world over. Listeners might fail to recognise the once unmistakeable all-out aggression that we associate with the earlier works such as The Fragile. On Hesitation Marks, he unleashes these visceral moments as the finalising punch on numbers such as the enthralling “Various Methods of Escape”, or as the rusty distorted guitars on “Came Back Haunted”. This album actually borrows more from The Social Network soundtrack than from any previous work in the Nine Inch Nail back-catalogue. There are recognisable motifs that come straight off his 2010 film score, even down to crescendos of repetition before concluding with suddenly dim ambience, signalling that the band are not peering into greatest hits, rather morphing from their most previous efforts.
This new stage in the career of industrial rock’s king is a sober reflection upon a dark past of morbidity and addiction, accepting the present as equally daunting in terms of being true to the self. Once the glitch overture of “The Eater of Dreams” sets the mood, “Copy of A” does not sound like the upbeat celebration of a recently married father of two: “I am just a finger on a trigger… /Doing everything I’m told to do/ Always my intention… your attention/Just doing everything you tell me to”. Rather than seeking to recreate “Hurt”, Reznor addresses those who expect him to regurgitate past glories both lyrically and musically, fighting his corner and right to continue exploring new territories.
The album is a wholly satisfying, often riveting dip into new waters. There are moments akin to Talking Heads, Massive Attack, and even Grandmaster Flash that colour the darkened subject matter, without which Nine Inch Nails would be incomplete. By using stark contrasts, Reznor has created one of the truest records under his most iconic guise, highlighting classic glints of why so many people laud this band, while audaciously proving how relevant they still are to new forms of electronic music. With comeback albums from Bowie, Suede, My Bloody Valentine and now Nine Inch Nails, the cliché of an extended retreat killing creativity is irrelevant, provided the artist be determined to keep driving forward.
Hesitation Marks is out now.
