Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross Drop Four Unearthly ‘Gone Girl’ Tracks
Shipra Harbola Gupta
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and frequent co-collaborator Atticus Ross have released four tracks from their soundtrack for David Fincher‘s highly anticipated crime drama, “Gone Girl,” which will world premiere at the New York Film Festival Friday night.
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Ever since they teamed up with Fincher in 2010 on “The Social Network,” Reznor and Ross have been using bold, visceral compositions to disrupt and reconfigure our expectations of film scores.
Historically speaking, film scores have become synonymous with sweeping orchestral music that are themselves characters in the narrative. Notable examples include the “Overture” from Maurice Jarre’s “Lawrence of Arabia” score; “Love Theme” from Nino Rota’s “The Godfather” score; “Main Title” from John Williams Original “Star Wars” score; “Hymn to the Sea” from James Horner’s “Titanic” score; and “Dream Is Collapsing” from Hans Zimmer’s “Inception” score.
While Reznor and Ross have produced scores that rival those of their antecedents, both instrumentally and melodically, it is the duo’s careful management of sound, not just melody, that sets their compositions apart from the rest. The management of sound is a common practice in electronic music, which is a form of production that Reznor and Ross have been experimenting with for many years via industrial rock. Their compositions for film — in this instance, the first four released tracks from the “Gone Girl” soundtrack — emerge out of a simultaneous synthesis and distillation of sound. It is, at once, music in its simplest and most complex form — and when viewed in conjunction with an image, it generates a seemingly tangible experience.
Listen to the tracks below. “Gone Girl” opens theatrically nationwide on October 3.
