Mid90s

In the mid Nineties, Trent Reznor was rock’s preeminent enfant terrible – a figure in black (with black fingernails) who covered himself in mud, sang “I wanna fuck you like an animal” and midwifed Marilyn Manson into the world. A quarter of a century later, he’s an Oscar-winning film composer and a dad (and he’s still a threatening, vibrant force of nature when he gets onstage). The score he composed for Jonah Hill’s Mid90s movie with fellow Nine Inch Nail Atticus Ross couldn’t be farther aesthetically from Nine Inch Nails in mid Nineties. Its four short and surprisingly sweet moodpieces are marked by idyllic piano playing, Eno-esque ambiance and tremulant, fluttering sound effects. Its closest mid-Nineties touchpoint might be the new agey CDs you could buy at the end of the aisle at Target at the time, though it’s much more enjoyable because, as a Trent Reznor production, it overflows with melancholy. And in some ways, it’s not too far removed from the piano interludes he included on The Downward Spiral – there are just more major chords.

The Null Corporation has released a soundtrack album for the post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box. The album features the film’s original music composed by Academy Award winners Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (The Social Network, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mid90s, Patriots Day). The soundtrack is now available to download on Nine Inch Nails’ official website and will be added to other digital music stores later this month. A physical release featuring an hour of additional music will be released this spring. Bird Box is directed by Susanne Bier and stars Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander, Colson Baker, BD Wong, Sarah Paulson and John Malkovich. The movie is set five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide and follows a survivor and her two children as they make a desperate bid to reach safety. The thriller was released in select theaters last month and is now available to stream on Netflix.