By Michael Hacker
For some weeks now we have been following the prospects of a new band called How to Destroy Angels. Following rumors that Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor was helming the project with his wife, former West Indian Girl frontwoman Mariqueen Maandig. This alone was reason to garner at least a little bit of excitement and for Nine Inch Nails fans, prospects of the next coming.
Throughout the course of those weeks, we were teased with mini videos on the How to Destroy Angels site. These videos displayed only seconds of recorded songs but were more than enough to hear the classic NIN sound. These videos were more than enough to bring us back, day after day, hoping for the release of a full length song and any more information on the new band.
Yesterday we were finally awarded Trent Reznor’s acknowledgment via his rarely used Twitter account in which he linked to this story at Pitchfork. To our surprise, the story also included a streaming of their first single “A Drowning.”
The song is reminiscent of NIN with one major difference, instead of Trents haunting voice we are treated to Mariqueens. The 7 minute, 3 second song is a perfect, mellow composure that has already made itself on my playlist of favorite new songs.
The almost dark electronic sound draws you deep into the music. It all begins with the bass strumming in the background, accompanied by a seemingly electronic piano. Mariqueens voice breaks through the darkness of the melody, slowly building to the climax of the song, at about the 5 minute mark. This brings the song full circle with its coda drowning out on its own accord, leaving you wanting more and pressing play for another go around.
If this single is any indication of what we can expect from this summers release of the How to Destroy Angels title “A Drowning” 6 song EP, were on board.
Check out the audio over at Pitchfork by clicking here.
