This week, Nine Inch Nails posted the following

message on its website:

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

… 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.

As I admitted to a friend on the phone later

that day, getting out of bed and discovering the

release of new Nine Inch Nails material is one of

the best things I could have possibly woken up to

at this strange, isolated point in my life. What’s

more is that these two new albums aren’t exactly

standalones. They are sequels to Ghosts I-IV, an

ambient instrumental album that recently turned

12 years old and marks a fascinating turning point

in the band’s career.

Ghosts I-IV is something of a toy box for Trent

Reznor’s most introspective musical ideas. In

stepping away from the realm of industrial rock,

the frontman demonstrated the haunting power

of his compositional abilities. In fact, a few tracks

from the album went on to score what I consider

the greatest movie of the 2010s. Reznor and Ross

would hardly pause from writing film and TV

scores after Ghosts I-IV. One piece, “34 Ghosts IV,”

was sampled by Lil Nas X to become Billboard’s

longest running No. 1 song, ultimately winning

Reznor his first (and likely last) Country Music

Award.

With all that said, while Ghosts V: Together

and Ghosts VI: Locusts lack the gritty, combustive

charm of their oddly imposing predecessor, they

are mature and deeply affecting additions to the

Nine Inch Nails canon. Both albums sacrifice

that distinct, thrummy intensity of previous NIN

records, trading this quality in for a focus on an

all-consuming atmosphere. And yet, the albums

could not differ more in tone.

Ghosts V: Together is a warm yet unsettling

hug. The best way to listen to the album is with

your eyes closed and your head down, allowing

Reznor’s bouts of ethereal humming dissonance

to fill your mind. Like the best NIN records,

Together weaves through slow and rewarding

apexes with intensity, drawing one in completely

before unleashing the naked core of its ideas. Both

“Letting Go While Holding On” and the title track

achieve this gradual release expertly.

There is no shortage of what I call the “NIN

chord” here, (a major third on top of a flat seventh,

if you’re dying to know), a conflicting set of notes

that thrive in the band’s typically ambiguous

emotional settings. If

you’ve listened to some

NIN,
you
probably

know what these notes

evoke — a reluctant,

fleeting smile.

Reznor appears to

cite composer Vangelis

(“Blade
Runner”)

with the patient depth

of tones; each layer

of sound feels both

vividly
human
and

distantly digital at the

same time. This is a theme that Together relishes

in, most notably on “Your Touch.” Despite the

tactile impressions of the track’s title, its melodies

are wispy, warped electronic phrases. It made

me consider what human connection often feels

like in a global pandemic: faces as grainy laptop

camera images, voices as feeble phone speaker

audio, conversation as iMessage notifications.

If Together in an album that exists outside of

time — bleary, pulsating and digital — then Locusts

is a panicking, frazzled human heart crushed by

urgency.

Look no further than its opening track, “The

Cursed Clock,” to understand how drastically

morbid everything becomes. Cool vibrating

synths are replaced with a piano and strange

whirring. The minimalist uniformity of the notes

would make John Carpenter proud: If one were

to insert them into a “Halloween” movie, I don’t

think anyone would question it.

Here, musical ideas are no longer nine-minute

waves of sweet kinetic force — they are indecent

little trios of short notes that attack like hornets.

It’s no secret that NIN writes dark music, but never

before has it been so overtly present in the band’s

musical direction. NIN often coats its bleakness

in grimy headbangability, but Locusts takes a far

blunter approach to the abyss. Moreover, not since

2002’s Still has NIN tried to feel so intimate. The

rendition of “Something I Can Never Have” on that

record makes it sound as though Reznor’s voice is

echoing in a tiny room.

That effect is attempted

here, though without

vocals we merely hear

the pianist’s rustling

and breathing.

Locusts
continues

with many of these

same
components,

sinking deeper into its

listener with unbending

claws. Aside from its

ambient backgrounds,

most
elements
of

Locusts are organic; Reznor brings out some brass

on top of the piano, delving further into the bumpy

noir style he employed on the “Watchmen” score.

The newest installment of the Ghosts series

certainly breaks new ground. But the question

of where it will take Nine Inch Nails is an open

one. Trent Reznor is so utterly capable of musical

excellence that the question isn’t a matter of if, but

how. Is this full-throated evil going to remain a part

of the band’s songwriting? I’m curious to see how

that would play with its more digestible material.

The thesis of Nine Inch Nails is something like,

“The world is a void and nothing matters, but it’s

OK to feel that way.” I’m guessing that sentiment

is not an unpopular one right now. Together and

Locusts managed to amplify all the feelings I had

about living inside all day while the world seems

to have halted. By embracing the tenet that made

them who they are, NIN did us all a favor by

expediting this release.

Monday, March 30, 2020 — 5
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FLICKR

ANISH TAMHANEY

Daily Film Editor

Surprise ‘Ghosts’: a reminder that Reznor’s still king

ALBUM REVIEW

This is it. A little over a year since Netflix

pulled the plug on the critically-acclaimed Latinx-

centered family sitcom, “One Day at a Time,” and

after numerous fan campaigns and a last minute

save by POP TV, the show has finally returned

to our screens. Regardless of whether you’ve

watched the series from the beginning — either

the
1975
original

created by Norman

Lear or the reboot

in 2017 — or are only

discovering it for the

first time, the premiere

is very aware of its

need to appeal to both

audiences. Becoming

the first ever show to

be saved by a linear

television
network

from
a
streaming

platform, the Cuban-

American
Alvarez

family has no problem sticking it to their old

platform with the son Alex (Marcel Ruiz,

“Breakthrough”) declaring, “there’s nothing good

on Netflix anymore.”

The premiere focuses on reintroducing us to

the Alvarez family, who have all changed over

the course of the last three seasons, while still

retaining their most beloved qualities. Penelope

(Justina Machado, “Jane the Virgin”) is still a hard-

loving single mother, now a nurse practitioner.

That doesn’t stop her mother, Lydia (Rita Moreno,

“West Side Story”), from trying to retain her status

as the matriarch of the household. Elena (Isabella

Gomez, “Big Hero 6: The Series”) remains an

overachieving, lovable and preachy high school

dork. Alex is a cool teenager (seriously, that’s

all there is to him), while Dr. Leslie Berkowitz

(Stephen Tobolowsky, “Silicon Valley”) and the

Alvarezes’ landlord Schneider (Todd Grinnell,

“Grace and Frankie”) are the opposite of that and

are the essential not-

blood-related overstay-

their-welcome
family

members.

With
the
show’s

transition
from
a

streaming
service
to

cable channel, episodes

are shorter, as they must

fit within the 21-minute

window. Unfortunately,

that meant cutting the

addictively catchy theme

song down to a simple

title card. Aside from

that, “One Day” maintains its balance of socially

conscious storylines with family comedy, like

when Ray Romano (“The Big Sick”) had a cameo

role as a census taker. Penelope slams the door

in his face while Elena stresses the importance

of participating in the census, highlighting the

generational gap. Or Penelope grappling with

the fact that being a single “badass feminist” and

wanting to be in a relationship because you’re

feeling alone aren’t always mutually exclusive. It’s

also not always subtle in its messages — like when

Romano reminds the Alvarezes that the census

does not ask about citizenship. It’s these kinds of

conversations that make the Alvarezes uniquely

Latino and entirely American.

It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the

season unfolds, given that its move to cable also

means episodes will be released on a weekly basis,

rather than all at once. This makes the show feel

too structured at times, as a certain amount of

the plot must be accomplished within a specific

amount of time before the commercial break.

One of the things that drew me to “One Day”

initially was how it differed from most multi-

camera sitcoms in that the episodes were a little

longer, and how it perfectly balanced season-long

arcs with episodic storylines. While I wouldn’t

expect the latter to change, the shortened episode

run times give the impression that the writers

are racing against the clock to fit into unnatural

feeling act breaks. This could simply be due to fans

of the show having to get used to the new format.

One thing that was obvious, however, was the lack

of balancing plotlines outside of Penelope’s. Still,

it’s safe to say that the humor and heart of “One

Day at a Time” has been captured.

With the coronavirus pandemic halting

production on several television shows, who

knows how many more episodes we’ll get. Even if

there are some elements that we’ll miss — like the

slightly longer episodes — it’s better than no new

episodes at all. All I have to say is thank you to POP

TV for taking a chance on a show I will excitedly

tune in to every week.

TV REVIEW
‘One Day at a Time’ returns, triumphantly, on cable

JUSTIN POLLACK

Daily Arts Writer

POP TV

Ghosts V: Together
& Ghosts VI: Locusts

Nine Inch Nails

The Null Corporation

One Day at a Time

Season 4 Premiere

POP TV

Tuesdays @ 9:30 p.m.