A world of loops, enhanced by textures and enriched by layers molded into machines that belch and cough, lurch yet churn, and occasionally giggle. Machines made into businesses. Machines made into humans. Machines made into music.

Machines made of machines, and those bookended infinitely.

A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room rose up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady, “but — it’s turtles all the way down.”

_{Stephen Hawking, A Brief History Of Time}

“The throat is deep and the mouth is wide,
Saw some things on the other side.
Made me promise to never tell,
But you know me, I can’t help myself.“

Trent is a master mechanic working the dark-slyde, a frayed. Trent being the infamous Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, he was the only permanent member of the band until his frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross, joined in 2016. Nine Inch Nails has sold over 20 million records and been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning for the songs “Wish” in 1992 and “Happiness in Slavery” in 1996. Time magazine named Reznor one of its most influential people in 1997, while  Spin magazine has described him as “the most vital artist in music”. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Nine Inch Nails at No. 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, after being nominated in 2014 (their first year of eligibility), and again in 2015.

Lisa Worden, music director for Los Angeles alternative rock station KROQ, told Radio.com that single “Came Back Haunted”, “harkens back to early Nine Inch Nails.” She added, “I wouldn’t say that it’s dance-y, but it does have a great beat, a groove.” RollingStone stated Reznor is, “a resilient, multiplatinum icon of feral machine music and (spiritual self-)lacerating self-examination.“

groove (=) machine (*) industrial (^) ^feral

“Everywhere now reminding me,
I am not who I used to be.
I’m afraid this has just begun,
Consequences for what I’ve done, yeah.”

The video being directed by equally brilliant David Lynch of Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, and infamous Twin Peaks fame. Said, Contactmusic.com, “Reznor and Lynch have collaborated before – on the soundtrack to Lynch’s 1997 film, Lost Highway and it’s still a pretty perfect team-up; combining Reznor’s twisted imagination and Lynch’s creative surrealist know-how to chilling effect.” Back in 1997, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on the dark pair, with Reznor discussing his adoration for the director. “I’m a huge David Lynch fan – we used to hold up Nine Inch Nails shows just so we could watch the latest Twin Peaks.”

“Hesitation Marks” are those cutting marks delivered to the body just prior to getting down to the real nitty-gritty of killing oneself. More doubts, more grooves. Hesitation Marks is also the album from whence this track was delivered nearly 25 years after masterpiece Pretty Hate Machine‘s 1988 debut.

His darkness flowers.

“Now I’ve got something you have to see,
They put something inside of me.
The smile is red and its eyes are black,
I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”

~

Nine Inch Nails’
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