Trent Reznor Hitches a Ride on David Lynch's LOST HIGHWAY

Avant garde? Post modern? Impressionistic? These descriptions and more could be used to describe the manic and mellow polarizing psychological soundtrack to the equally mind-bending visual feast that is the David Lynch film LOST HIGHWAY. It is a soundtrack that is diverse and challenging enough to support a film whose story structure is that of a cinematic mobius strip.

Made from a piece of paper, a mobius strip is a strip of paper sealed at the ends with a 180 degree twist in the middle. The result is a surface with only one side. If an ant were crawl along the length of the mobius strip it would return to its starting point without ever crossing any edges. David Lynch's protagonist shares the same journey in his film, returning quite literally to the beginning.

David Lynch, director of seminal films Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Dune, and the cult hit TV series Twin Peaks, chose Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame to produce the soundtrack for his film. At fist glance it seemed an odd pairing but upon further reflection the creative duo make sense.

Reznor was quite successful during this period of his career coming off the phenomonally successful album The Downward Spiral released in 1994. His previous soundtrack work on Oliver Stone's NATURAL BORN KILLERS was met with nearly unanimous praise as for rewriting the rules for which a soundtrack. It also prove to be the film's only redeeming feature. A techinique that he used on that soundtrack was an astute pairing of dialogue and sounds from the film as a seamless segue between songs by a diverse group of artists that included Peter Gabriel, Jane's Addiction, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Marilyn Manson, Patti Smith, Cowboy Junkies, Patsy Cline, and Leonard Cohen, as well as "Burn", a new track from Nine Inch Nails.

Reznor employed the same creative technique on Lost Highway, and as with all of his recent successes Trent Reznor and creative associates at the time: Danny Lohner, Charlie Clouser, Sean Beavan, and Brian Pollack compiled a musical escapade of which the whole was greater than the sum of any of its parts.

The album begins and ends with two different edits of David Bowie's song "I'm Deranged" from his 1995 album Outside. The two edits immediately foreshadow the mobius strip structure as well as the tone and nature of the film. It signals that the story seems to have no real ending or beginning.

Reznor composed two pieces of original material for the soundtrack in addition to a new Nine Inch Nails song. His first contribution "Videodrones: Questions" sounds remarkably similar to some of the soundscape work he contributed to Id Software's 1^st person shooter game QUAKE that was released in 1996. It leaves the listener with the same sense of unease and uncertainty about the mental and emotional state of the character. Lynch did present Reznor with a unique problem, he wanted the track to sound like '...snakes shooting out of a box...' In other words, how to epitomize a sound which at once represents a writhing, churning mass of fear and confusion while simultaneously instilling in the listener a sense of impending doom? One listen I can honestly say mission accomplished. Reznor delivers. Given the name of the film it is not entirely surprising that the sounds also represent an acceleration of a listening vehicle or guide into what becomes the Lost Highway.

The NIN song, "The Perfect Drug", perfectly makes clear the weakenesses at the heart of the protagonist and the elusive emotion that is love. This song is also special because it marks the first time that a person other than Reznor had been credited as a co-creator of a NIN song, in this case Reznor's friend and multi-instrumentalist Danny Lohner.

"The Perfect Drug" is followed by Angelo Badalementi's "Red Bats with Teeth". Badalementi, a longtime David Lynch colloborator is bes known for his thematic compositions on TWIN PEAKS and brings a wide knowledge and grasp of many styles to the soundtrack. The continuity established with the astute audio production and editing from "Red Bats with Teeth" and into "Haunting & Heartbreaking" is something to admire as it is seamless and makes an extraordinary segue into the Smashing Pumpkin's song "Eye".

The Pumpkins, sans drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, and fresh from the award-winning double album MELLON COLLIE and the INFINITE SADNESS, deliver another grammy award worthy performance in this song that is a serious departure from their earlier work. It woud also foreshadow the kind of sonic exploration they were embarking on their 1998 release ADORE.

Joining with Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, and Angelo Badalementi are Jazz tracks by Barry Adamson, which also compliment this odd misture of music. If the desired effect by Reznor and Lynch were one of disorientation then they have happened upon it.

We are treated with two tracks from Nothing Records (Trent Reznor's former personal label) act Marilyn Manson, "Apple of Sodom" and a cover of the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song, "I Put A Spell on You". For those interested "Apple of Sodom" was originally slated to appear on their 1996 concept album Antichrist Superstar between the songs "Minute of Decay" and "Man That You Fear" but was cut because of a lack of running time left on the CD. Marilyn Manson and bandmate Twiggy Ramirez also make a breif but hilarious cameo in Lynch's film as cheesy actors in a porn film.

The next track on the album is also the only truly sore spot, an incessantly boring and poorly executed cover of "This Magic Moment" (a song made famous in the 1960s by Jay and the Americans) that is crooned and destroyed by Lou Reed. Fortunately we are only forced to endure this for a very short time before being faced with more work by Angelo Badalementi and Barry Adamson.

Reznor makes effective use of Rammstein, a German/Teutonic electro rock group to throw a sonic curveball just when you think you have groove of the album figured out. The effect is dramatic but used judiciously by Reznor before leading into the other Reznor instrumental composition "Driver Down" which begins a chaotic and tumultuous run toward the end of the album. Reznor evokes emotion with sparse and well chosen piano chords that hint and make us desire the release that reached with the beautiful voice of David Bowie as we enter the reprise of David Bowie's "I'm Deranged".

I highly recommend this album. It is challenging and may require multiple listens to get used to, but somehow this is what I suspect David Lynch and Trent Reznor had intended.