Nine Inch Nails fans now have the answer to what the band’s leader Trent Reznor meant when he posted a mysterious message titled “2 Weeks” last month on their website. He was talking about the release of the new instrumental NIN album Ghosts.

The latest NIN endeavor, which is said to be visually-based music for imagined locations, comes as a complete surprise not even a year after their last studio release Year Zero.

Ghosts is collected into four volumes comprised of 36 tracks total, although Reznor has stated the possibility for additional volumes of Ghosts to appear in the future. None of the songs have names and they are only identified by their track number.

The band’s official online store now features five different formats of the album for purchase, including a free online download. The free version contains only the first 9 tracks on the album, but, hey, it’s free. All you have to do is check the box by the word “free,” check your email for the one-time-only download link and go to town. (I’m listening to it right now!)

The other versions, ranging in price from 5 to 300 dollars, consist of preorders of a hardcopy of the album in a variety of audio formats, and they come with a free digital download of all 36 tracks before the hardcopy ships. Instant NIN gratification.

With this project, NIN follows in the footsteps of other well-known bands, like Radiohead and Oasis, who have chosen to release new material digitally (and, in Radiohead’s case, for free) before releasing physical copies of the album to be sold traditionally (read: in stores).

Reznor describes the project by saying that it wouldn’t have been right to release it until this point in his career despite the fact that he has had the desire to do an instrumental album for quite some time. With the growing freedom for artists to choose how to release their material and whether or not to release it directly to fans, it’s easy to see why Reznor has chosen now as the right time for an album like Ghosts.

To experience Reznor’s “music for daydreams” immediately, head over to the NIN store and get to downloading!

Image: NIN.com

Tags: Nine Inch Nails, NIN, Ghosts, Ghosts I-IV, free music, free download, digital music, Trent Reznor

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