‘Ghosts V-VI’ is available as a free download from the band’s website. The record, which has been made available as a free download from their website, combines both albums Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts into one collected project.
The instrumental album is split into two sets: Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts and is available now as a free download from the band’s website. Announcing the release on Twitter, Trent Reznor said it comprises “hours and hours of music. Some of it kind of happy, some not so much.”
Parts I-IV in the Ghosts series were released collectively as an album in 2008, while Nine Inch Nails’ last album, Hesitation Marks, arrived in 2013. Trent Reznor and co. have since released a number of EPs: 2016’s Not the Actual Events, 2017’s Add Violence and 2018’s Bad Witch.
Back in 2008, right after parting ways with longtime label home Interscope, Nine Inch Nails released Ghosts I–IV, a quadruple-album of ambient instrumentals described by Trent Reznor as “a soundtrack for daydreams.” It marked the beginning of a new phase of NIN, with Reznor operating outside the traditional rollout cycle and outside the rock radio industrial complex. Ghosts was sold at an innovative range of price points, and Reznor allowed the music to be sampled and reworked for nonprofit purposes via a Creative Commons license. That looked to be its legacy until a couple years ago, when the Dutch producer YoungKio sampled a segment of “34 Ghosts IV” for the beat that would become Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”
Today, Reznor has followed up that mammoth outpouring with two new Ghosts albums, available for free as digital downloads. These are the first NIN full-lengths since 2018’s Bad Witch, which was really the completion of an EP trilogy, but that’s neither here nor there. Of course, Reznor and his bandmate Atticus Ross have released a ton of other instrumental music in the interim via their work as in-demand composers for film and TV. (That Watchmen score, though!) But even if it’s ostensibly just more instrumental music from a duo that has delivered no shortage of instrumentals in recent years, it means something that they’ve decided to release these under the NIN banner.
The release comes as millions of people are forced to stay home and self-isolate amid the current coronavirus pandemic. Discussing the release through their website, Nine Inch Nails said: “Two different records for two different mindsets. Download now for free. Stay safe!”
Ghosts V: Together:
01 Letting Go While Holding On
02 Together
03 Out in the Open
04 With Faith
05 Apart
06 Your Touch
07 Hope We Can Again
08 Still Right Here
Ghosts VI: Locusts:
01 The Cursed Clock
02 Around Every Corner
03 The Worriment Waltz
04 Run Like Hell
05 When It Happens (Don’t Mind Me)
06 Another Crashed Car
07 Temp Fix
08 Trust Fades
09 A Really Bad Night
10 Your New Normal
11 Just Breathe
12 Right Behind You
13 Turn This Off Please
14 So Tired
15 Almost Dawn
