Trent Reznor explains triple Watchmen release

Last month, HBO’s new Watchmen series kicked off, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross supplying the soundtrack to the nine-part series based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 graphic novel.

Reznor and Ross decided to split the soundtrack into three separate releases, with the first arriving on November 4, while parts two and three will launch on November 25 and December 16.

And in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Nine Inch Nails leader Reznor has explained why they made the decision to break the releases up.

He says: “Well, we’re having some fun with the way that it’s released. There are a number of reasons behind doing that. One is there is quite a bit of music, and I think when you drop a big chunk – a couple of hours’ worth of music – on the public these days, that’s a good way to get 90% of it ignored.

“So breaking it up is good. The motivation wasn’t to monetise it three times – that wasn’t what the deciding factor was. And we’re putting it out on vinyl because we’ve been on a physical-object kick.

“Speaking for myself, that’s for nostalgic reasons. I’m looking at a shelf full of vinyl albums right now, and it feels a little different than something that’s a cloud-based file, which feels a little disposable.

“They also tie into Watchmen. Let’s put it this way: We overthought it.”

As for the possibility of new material from Nine Inch Nails, Reznor says: “Right now, we are finishing up Watchmen, and we’re working on the Pixar film that we are doing.

“We have plans for Nine Inch Nails stuff, but we haven’t got down to doing it because literally every minute of the day for the last several months has working on score stuff. But the plan is to do stuff, yes.”

The Watchmen soundtracks are available through the official Nine Inch Nails website.

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