Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross – The Social Network Soundtrack (2010)

Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross – The Social Network Soundtrack (2010)

Years from now, this suite of music will be remembered more fondly than the rest of Reznor’s oeuvre by people who don’t carry a torch for rock or pop music. The Social Network soundtrack catapulted him from ‘just another rock star’ to a composer of note when it won the Academy Award for best original score in 2010, and while it was not the first electronic score to do so — that honor goes to Vangelis’s score for Chariots of Fire — it is the rare soundtrack that perfectly underscores its subject without drawing attention to itself. The Social Network soundtrack is elegiac and vaguely sinister, much like Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, and much like Reznor’s persona for most of his career. It’s the perfect synthesis of artist and subject.

Unlike most soundtracks, however, The Social Network stands up well as an album by itself. Reznor took the ambient meanderings of the Ghosts experiments and hammered them into a cohesive listening experience. Many of the tracks blend together — that’s sort of the point — but unlike many ambient records, Music For Airports, let’s say, The Social Network packs definite highlights. “Hand Covers Bruise,” with its aching waves of distortion represents the angst of young adulthood better than many pop songs. And Reznor’s interpolation of Edvard Grieg’s “Hall Of The Mountain King,” is one of the most gripping and entertaining tracks he’s put to tape.