Nine Inch Nails releases two new albums for free

If you’re running out of good working-from-home music, here’s what to load up next. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, aka Nine Inch Nails, have gifted us two new albums, available now on Spotify — for free.

“Anybody out there?” Reznor tweeted Thursday. “New Nine Inch Nails out now. Ghosts V – VI. Hours and hours of music. Free. Some of it kind of happy, some not so much.”

Reznor and Ross explained on their website that Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts are the result of the pair pushing themselves to finish the music during this time of self-quarantine.

“Weird times indeed…” they wrote. “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.

“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.”

Reznor and Ross’ descriptions of each album suggest you should probably start with Ghosts V: Together, the one with the white cover, which has their signature atmospheric, misty sound, but with a slowly climbing trickle of positivity.

“Ghosts V: Together is for when things seem like it might all be okay,” they wrote.

As for Ghosts VI: Locusts, the one with the black cover, it’s definitely the darker yang to this up and down journey. “Well, you’ll figure it out,” the pair wrote.

Reznor and Ross have provided some of the best movie soundtracks over the past decade, from The Social Network to the recent Watchmen series on HBO.

It’s been two years since they released records as a band, and they join other musicians in gifting music to those self-isolating at home during the coronavirus quarantine.

Livestreamed concerts are the new thing, with Miley Cyrus, Diplo, Questlove and more set to pump their music through your home theatre systems.

“It made us feel better to make these and it feels good to share them,” Reznor and Ross wrote of their new albums.

“Music has always had a way of making us feel a little less alone in the world…and hopefully it does for you, too.”

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