Nine Inch Nails confirm plans to make new album
Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have revealed they plan to take a step away from producing movie soundtracks to make another studio album.
While the pair continue to work together as much as they ever have, most recently teaming up to create the soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film, Challengers, it’s been four years since Nine Inch Nails released any material.
During that aforementioned period, they have also worked on movies such as Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light and David Fincher’s The Killer. However, now the time has come for the duo to return to their first love, Nine Inch Nails.
Although making movie soundtracks started as a side-project, in recent years, it has now become their main creative avenue. While their work in the film industry is deservedly highly-acclaimed, it doesn’t come with the same level of freedom that arrives with Nine Inch Nails.
In a new interview with GQ, Reznor said of his future plans: “I think coming out of a stretch of a number of films in a row, I want some time of seeing where the wind blows versus: there’s a looming date on a calendar coming up and we’d better get our shit together.”
He continued: “And certainly, in the last few weeks, I’ve been itching to do what we often do, which is just come in and let’s start something that we’re not even sure what it’s for.”
The vocalist also claimed the high quantity of soundtrack work has “managed to make Nine Inch Nails feel way more exciting than it had been in the past few years. I’d kind of let it atrophy a bit in my mind for a variety of reasons.”
This sentiment is shared by Ross, who added, “I do feel excited about starting on the next record. I think we’re in a place now where we kind of have an idea.”
While work is yet to officially begin on the next Nine Inch Nails project, Reznor and Ross are reading off the same hymn sheet, even if they are yet to discover the sonic direction they will choose upon for the album.
Although they plan to make new music, it seems Nine Inch Nails still doesn’t have any ambitions to hit the road. The group last performed live in 2022, and last year, Reznor revealed he has no plans to return to touring.
“I don’t want to be away from my kids,” Reznor explained to Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast. “I don’t want to miss their lives to go do a thing that I’m grateful to be able to do, and I’m appreciative that you’re here to see it, but I’ve done it a lot, you know?”
“In the context of Nine Inch Nails, in terms of an audience and the culture the importance of music – or lack of importance of music – in today’s world, from my perspective, is a little defeating,” he added.
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