nine inch nails - in this twilight
year zero

watch the sun,
as it crawls across a final time
and it feels like,
like it was a friend.
it is watching us,
and the world we set on fire
do you wonder,
if it feels the same?

and the sky is filled with light
can you see it?
all the black is really white
if you believe it
as your time is running out
let me take away your doubt
you can find a better a place
in this twilight

dust to dust,
ashes in your hair remind me
what it feels like
and I won't feel again
night descends
could I have been a better person
if I could only
do it all again

and the sky is filled with light
can you see it?
all the black is really white
if you believe it
and the longing that you feel
you know none of this real
you will find a better a place
in this twilight

---

i have the greatest respect for nine inch nails' frontman, Trent Reznor. sure, 'With Teeth' was somewhat of a disappointment - it has it's moments, but overall the album did not deliver the 'punch' Reznor promised, unlike his earlier works with the ground breaking 'Broken', the monumental masterpiece 'Downward Spiral' or even the fan-beloved-but-commercial-failure 'Fragile'.

but then again, Trent is pushing 40, recovering from years of substance abuse. coming to terms with mental illness and age doesn't help either. all that will take their toll on anyone, and 'With Teeth' is certainly a testament to that. fans and critics alike couldn't help but think Reznor can only do his best work when he's angry (Broken, Downward Spiral) or intoxicated (Fragile, All That Could've Been). many blasted him for still singing the same angst-ridden lyrics as he did when he was in his twenties and thirties. but honestly, can you imagine Trent Reznor singing songs with lyrics all too easily found in many pop - sorry - contemporary adult music today? hell, no. that's just not right and thankfully, he chose not to.

so, i was both a wee bit hopeful and scared at the same time when i heard Trent announcing nine inch nails' new album - 'year zero'. hopeful that the new album will be just as memorable as Broken and Downward Spiral was and scared if it did not.

it's only recently did i check nin.com again, catching up on news from Trent Reznor and his band of not-so-merrymen. Btw, 'Beside You In Time' really makes me want to buy an HD-DVD just to watch the thing though definitely not BluRay since i really dislike Sony's way of doing things (no managed copies, rootkit DRM and the like). i did saw the Year Zero page, but i never gave it a second thought.

until last month.

that's when i renewed my interest with 'year zero'. I fell in love with Trent's idea of marketing the album - hell, even the entire concept of the album itself.

'towards the end of the world - 15 years time from now'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_%28album%29
http://yearzero.nin.com/

what a concept - feels so right with how things are going all over the world right now. From Trent (taken from Amazon.com)

"This record began as an experiment with noise on a laptop in a bus on tour somewhere. That sound led to a daydream about the end of the world. That daydream stuck with me and over time revealed itself to be much more. I believe sometimes you have a choice in what inspiration you choose to follow and other times you really don't. This record is the latter. Once I tuned into it, everything fell into place... as if it were meant to be. With a framework established, the songs were very easy to write. Things started happening in my "real" life that blurred the lines of what was fiction and what wasn't. The record turned out to be more than a just a record in scale, as you will see over time.

Part one is year zero. Concept record. Sixteen tracks. All written and performed by me, produced / programmed by me and Atticus Ross, mixed by Alan Moulder, mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner. Release date: April 17, 2007.

What's it about? Well, it takes place about fifteen years in the future. Things are not good. If you imagine a world where greed and power continue to run their likely course, you'll have an idea of the backdrop. The world has reached the breaking point - politically, spiritually and ecologically. Written from various perspectives of people in this world, "year zero" examines various viewpoints set against an impending moment of truth. How does it sound? You will hear for yourself soon enough, but given the point of this document is to provide information...

This record is much more of a "sound collage" than recent efforts from me.

A lot of it was improvised. It is very tedious describing your own music. It's not just music. It's probably too long, but it felt like the right thing to do to paint the complete picture. It will sound different after a few listens. You can think about it and it will reveal more than you were expecting. You can dance to a lot of it. You can f*** to a lot of it (maybe all of it depending on what you're into). "

i like it when Trent Reznor is pissed with the world.

listening to the various 'intentional' downloads scattered around the internet, i dare myself to believe that 'year zero' is probably nine inch nails' best work to date.

all the things that i love with nin's music are present in these songs - the layers after layers of sound, the intricacies of detail, use of noise, trent's incessant tinkering with intruments (sampling-then-mess-with-then-resample-again), the use of dissonance and disharmony to convey a feeling / atmosphere of 'something not right'. the cornerstone and trademark of nin's industrial sonic landscape.

but it's not all fire and brimstone like 'Broken' or 'Downward Spiral'. from the five songs leaked to promote the album, none sound like songs from earlier works. Trent kept nine inch nails' tradition of trying to break new ground with new albums. it still has all the familiar sounds and noise one have come to expect from a nin album, but there's an unmistakable 'more mature' quality to it, akin to what he did with 'Fragile'. undoubtedly, some harsh moments are still present, after all, it's still nine inch nails. the song structures are still pop-like enough for those unfamiliar with nin to like the songs, but still retain many nin qualities - messing and moving around the chorus / solo / bridge, lyrics with slightly offbeat tempos, atonality and dynamics.

'in this twilight' evoke a similar emotions to 'hurt' (at least for me) but there is resignation there - acceptance to things you can't change. like 'hurt', the lyrics spoke to you as if you're there, but unlike 'hurt' the songs is not a confession of remorse, more like a bitter farewell. Trent never discuss the meanings of his songs, prefering to let the audience decided for themselves, but let's take a closer look.

watch the sun,
as it crawls across a final time
and it feels like,
like it was a friend.
it is watching us,
and the world we set on fire
do you wonder,
if it feels the same?

positioned at the end of the album, you'll get a feeling that you're surrounded in despair, hopelessness and inability to change what's happening around you - a final time. also notice the references to heat - the sun warming 'like it was a friend' and slow motion - 'as it crawls across a final time'. it would seem 'final time' is death in this case, perhaps yourself or someone you hold dear. loss of body warmth, hazy feeling - seeing things in slow motion - are experiences often associcated with losing consciousness and death. a larger context like the earth or humanity itself can also be applied here.

and the sky is filled with light
can you see it?
all the black is really white
if you believe it
as your time is running out
let me take away your doubt
you can find a better a place
in this twilight

surrounded in darkness - black - you long for release, closure. light is often associated with near death experiences or dying. as is often the case, one would try to console another in this situation with the knowledge that 'you can find a better place'. however, you can actually sense the person is in a conflict, torn - perhaps because he's in grief or maybe - maybe because he is trying very hard to convince himself that he actually believe the words he's saying.

twilight is the time before dawn - before a new day. traditionally, people believe a new day will bring new hope for oneself and the world. so, intrisically, the title suggest hope or the act of hoping. so, while he actually does not know what lies 'after' or do not believe, he 'wants' to believe.

dust to dust,
ashes in your hair remind me
what it feels like
and I won't feel again
night descends
could I have been a better person
if I could only
do it all again

notice the references to the ritual of passing - ashes to ashes, dust to dust. with the coming of 'final time' - death, we feel loss, remorse, and regret. we wonder whether we have done enough, whether things could've been different. what would happen if we did things differently. perhaps there are things we wish we could change, but the past is gone and we have to move on.

and the sky is filled with light
can you see it?
all the black is really white
if you believe it
and the longing that you feel
you know none of this real
you will find a better a place
in this twilight

the only difference between the last chorus and the first is the fifth and sixth lines. a little bit ambiguous but still carry the same theme - loss.

do we believe we will see our departed ones again and everything else is secondary - 'none of this is real'?

or are we still trying to console them and more importantly, ourselves that this world, this existence and the pain, death and destruction around us is 'not real' because it is too 'painful'?

maybe we are still coming to terms with the grief, our weakness / failure from doing 'the right thing' in the past and are still in denial of what happened - a final time for ourselves, humanity and the earth? death we have wrought upon ourselves and everything around us, including to the ones we hold dear? now that we have peeked '15 years into the future', what will we do to change the events of the future?

unlike 'hurt' where Trent basically spoke of his regret having gone through the 'downward spiral', he only uses subtle references for 'in this twilight'. But the effect (for someone listening closely and carefully enough) is just as, if not more, powerful. yes, there is no noise interlude to signify the process of breaking away pieces of yourself till you find who you really are like in 'hurt'. here, the truth is implied sonically with disenchanting drums and noise falsettos - like it's 'wrong' somehow, or that something is missing / not right - similar to 'hurt'slightly false guitar strings. 'in this twilight' also leaves the meaning of the song and the song's conclusion vaguely in the air for the listener to decided themselves unlike 'hurt's increasing, brash wall of sound signifiying an effort to rise, to go back and change things.

Trent. so good to have you back.