On Friday, December 6, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' soundtrack to Luca Guadagnino's latest film, Queer, saw a global digital release. Announced on the official Nine Inch Nails social accounts with the usual LinkTree page full of streaming options, it's also available in 24-bit, 48khz lossless audio from online shops like qobuz and HDTracks. And for those that like a music experience that's a little more ritualistic, Milan Records has confirmed on Instagram that "vinyl is in the work[s]".
Over on Stereogum, Tom Breihan posted a brief review at the time of the announcement proclaims "There’s a hushed, jazz-influenced feel to this one, and the sound design is layered and elaborate. These guys can really do anything." Indiewire has a nice write-up by Samantha Bergeson, which seem to quote heavily from Josh Sharpe's article on Broadwayworld, or maybe they both reference a press release I'm not privy to.
A few other music sites have done their book report summaries of the score as well, but it's on social media where folks like bunny point out that the song titles from the score are all excerpts from William S. Burroughs’ last journal entry, written three days before he passed away.
It's a dreamy, melodic 48 minutes of largely instrumental music, with a focus on strings that's not present in earlier work, exploring several themes that help build the feeling of the film, and it kicks off with a soaring vocal performance on the opening track, "Vaster than Empires," with Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso joined by Trent Reznor singing lyrics that were themselves taken from Burroughs' memoirs.
Released late in the year, the album is no doubt going to make the awards circuit, and already "For Your Consideration" versions of the soundtrack are circulating; if you're not familiar, these editions of a score have no dialogue, and are presented as-heard in the film. Interesting in a "Behind the scenes DVD feature" kind of way, you're not going to hear anything notably different from the streaming and download sites above. If anything, the FYC scores tend to be more jarring to listen to. I still think they're a fun artifact to have access to though.
And speaking of awards and soundtracks for Guadagnino films by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails won best score for 'Challengers' at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, as reported from Hollywood by The Hollywood Reporter. I know the Boys Noize [MIXED] edition would dominate my Spotify Wrapped if I used Spotify, but I haven't looked at whether Swinsian keeps stats like that. Hope everyone who was trying for that Record Store Day exclusive vinyl was able to get their copy.