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Rating: While on social media, on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, not at the bar because they're closed, many are trying to convince you of something, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are offering not one but two albums in FREE DOWNLOAD where not a single word is spoken. These are the follow-up to those "Ghosts" that once divided listeners more or less equally between those who dismissed them as huge crap and those who hailed them as monumental works. Then there are those still undecided like me, but I guess they don't count much.
"Together" mainly consists of light and melancholic tracks, centered around piano loops with just a hint of electronic suggestions to complement them, but never becoming too intrusive. At least until the concluding Still Right Here, where guitars and drum machines make an appearance, and it must be said, the music changes. We are not told when and how the duo chose the track titles, but anyway, Out In The Open, Hope We Can Again, Apart, Letting Go While Holding On, seem truly tailored for this precise moment.
"Locusts" with its decidedly more sustained pace and palpable tension, is a balanced counterpoint to the ethereal contemplative suggestions of its twin. Not that it suddenly spills into grindcore, the piano and sound manipulation remain undisputed protagonists, but the more frequent use of other instruments (the trumpet in The Worriment Waltz is really spot-on) and the less relaxed general mood definitely make it the more dynamic part of the listening experience.
Take it as you will: a clever marketing move, a collection of scraps thrown to the die-hard fanatics of NIN, the usual repetition of the same four ideas for twenty years, a long-considered project that has reached full maturity... For me, it served as a pleasant-background-instead in these days of (my) high emotional instability and surplus of free time to think.
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