Die Rueckkehr: Teil 1
By Kym Gnuch for Sonic Seducer on April 1, 2005
It has now been five years: in fall of 1999 the last work by NIN
appeared. The double album "Fragile" was an enticing milestone
in the history of rock, just like its predecessor, the 1994 masterwork
"The downward spiral." Note: fans of the ingenious Trent Reznor have
always had to work on their patience. But now (one can hardly believe
it), the dry spell is coming to an end, for on May 8 the legendary
master will release a new studio album: it will be called "With Teeth"
and will present thirteen new treasures of the high school of
industrial songwriting. At the very least, one can confidently assume
that ā unfortunately I am not yet perfectly certain, since the record
company has initially chosen to release only a five track cassette as
a sneak preview. But the tape is enough, even if Trent himself, as
you'll read, does not really approve of this approach. And this small
annoyance shouldn't prevent a first conversation with the industrial
wizard. And so I had him on the lineāfrom which he disappeared during
my first few questions. Technical difficulties. One has to be
patient...
A few minutes later, he's back, and I politely repeat my statement,
which of course was about those five tracks. Whereupon Trent Reznor
got a little annoyed and expressed his astonishment that the whole
album wasn't available; and he asked for the track listing. "Whoever
made this song selection did not, in my eyes, necessarily have the
best idea. First of all, I find it annoying, that only five of
thirteen pieces are presented, because we're talking about an album,
that should be seen as a whole. On top of that, these five titles
represent the radio-friendly Top Five, which do not contain all of my
personal favorites. In other words: you haven't heard the best
stuff." Even before I was able to say that I look forward to the near
future, he began a long monologue about the production of the work:
"The recording process was vastly different from previous productions.
I worked outside of a big studio, alone with a four-track recording
device and minimal engineering. I started with it only at the
beginning of last yearāand in May 25 pieces were already finished,
much more than I needed. Before I have always started with loops,
riffs or sounds and then tried after the fact the to fit a song into
the initial structure. This time, the songs were supposed to develop
with the melody, the texts or the chord changes: with the essence the
songs themselves. Maybe that's not the better way, but that was
important for me. These pieces are complete in themselves, they are
at the same time individuals, better in my eyes than all the ones I've
made in the pastānot little parts of a whole. Recently I was asked to
select and play a song from 'The Downward Spiral.' I couldn't decide,
because the titles on that album really only sound good when you hear
them in context. At least, that's what I feel these days. Now it's
different: 'With Teeth' is a truly song-based album. As I began the
final phase of production, I surprisingly discovered that not much
needed to be added to my raw versions. They had developed themselves
from only a few elements! Maybe the reason is that I believe I've
become more self-confident. I no longer feel the need to hide myself,
my voice behind a wall of sound."
How can one explain this growth of self-confidence? Trent briefly
paused, before he said: "An important reason is that I have been clean
for several years. Up until that point, my life was really in danger
of going to hell in a handbasket, as one so nicely says. And there
were so unbelievably many things that I was running away from. But
regardless of how fast you think you're runningāthey always catch up
to you. I literally faced the decision of changing my life or killing
myself, and please believe me, that is no exaggeration. So it took a
while until the disk was ready for release, although the actual
production phase was the shortest I've ever needed. I simply needed a
time out to get a grip on myself as a person and to feel good in my
own skin again, to get to know myself again. I worked hard, took this
metamorphosis of mine seriously, until finally my head was clear
enough again to write music. Besides, I didn't want to take the risk
of failing by heading out too soon and possibly discovering that I am
a lousy composer. And I was happy to discover that I could also pull
off good songs clean, actually, as I think, the best in my life.
Finally it disappeared: the feeling of being trapped, of having cotton
in my head, of a veil hanging between me and reality. Abilities that
had been repressed for years came out. I have had to learn to like
myself again, and I think my self-consciousness as an artist grew too.
The hiding behind a career or behind a bottle came to an end!"
The magazine then went on to analyse the 5 album tracks previously discussed in the interview...
That(?) Hand That Feeds
In a dramatic, slowly to its highest volume rising intro winds the
single of the album, which will be released on 04/11. A radio friendly
rock song with a straight beat and characteristic Reznor singing which
discharges in a ecstatic chorus at the end.
Every Day Is Exactly The Same
The track starts with with a wonderful dissonant piano before it
unexpectetly brakes lose in a grave half-time style. synthetic sounding
basslines thud. Unmistakably a typical nin song, right from the first
listen. Absolutely following the tradition of the unforgotten Uber-Hits.
Only
Maybe the most surprising track of the collection. A cool funky disco
rhythm dominates over noticably simple bass sequences. Even trents way
of singing departs from his old image. invites to click your fingers. Is
it an attempt to destroy expectations?
Getting Smaller
Begins with beautiful whining noise guitars before it evolves to a fast,
aggressive uptemp hit. Followed by a typical chorus which ends up in
screaming known from "Heresy" or "Terrible lie".
Right where It belongs
An outstanding, totally infatuating masterpiece of quiet sounds. The
listener is accompanied by the limitless depth of a simple piano through
various acoustic rooms. One has the feeling of following the protagonist
from a busy street to a hall and then a stage to bid him farewall into a
gray silence.
Transcribed by Lydia and John, translated by Justin Ward and drugprfct