Trent Reznor’s How To Destroy Angels releases first single from new EP

Perhaps the creepiest parts of 2010’s “The Social Network” and 2011’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” wasn’t the the icy detachment of the fictionalized “Mark Zuckerberg” or David Fincher’s twist on Swedish noir, but the tension-wracked scores from Trent Reznor and frequent collaborator Atticus Ross.

Now Reznor-philes and die-hard Nine Inch Nails fans have some new music from the artist under the newly typographically intense aegis of How to destroy angels__, Reznor’s ongoing project with his wife (singer Mariqueen Maandig), Ross and graphic designer Rob Sheridan.

The band previewed its previously announced EP, “An Omen EP,” on its Facebook page, and despite Reznor’s much-noted antipathy toward the major-label system, it will come out on Columbia on Nov. 13 as a precursor to a full-length due “early next year.”

The EP’s first single, “Keep It Together,” is a an upfront but minimal bit of spooky, glitchy noise that owes a lot to early Warp Records. But Maandig’s whispers float above the choppy bass and drum patter, and keep the song enticing.

The always-droll Reznor’s full announcement is below. He has some background in building anticipation for new albums, so hopefully this bit of music is just the start.

Sorry for the radio silence lately ... I’ve been busy! There’s a number of things to be revealed over the coming months. Some you may expect, others you may not. Patience, my friends.

Today’s news is about my band How To Destroy Angels. I’m happy to announce we’ve formally partnered with Columbia Records for our next series of releases. The first of these will be available in November and it’s called An Omen EP. As you may have guessed, it’s an EP. It contains six songs, some of which are from our full-length LP which is coming early next year.

We are making some videos, we are going to be performing live, and that’s all the details I have for now on those matters.

Regarding our decision to sign with Columbia, we’ve really spent a long time thinking about things and it makes sense for a lot of reasons, including a chance to work with our old friend Mark Williams. There’s a much more granular and rambling answer I could give (and likely will in an interview someplace) but it really comes down to us experimenting and trying new things to see what best serves our needs. Complete independent releasing has its great points but also comes with shortcomings.

We are all very excited about you checking out the new stuff. Wish I could tell you more, but you know how this works ... it would take all the fun out of it!

ALSO:

Nine Inch Nails says goodbye to the U.S.

Trent Reznor on the “found sounds” of “Dragon Tattoo.”

Trent Reznor on finding the right notes for the “Social Network” score: “I saw a story about a guy who needs to prove himself”