Nine Inch Nails bandmates (and recent Country Music Award winners) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have shared their latest contribution to the Watchmen HBO series soundtrack; an eerie instrumental cover of David Bowie’s 1971 single ‘Life on Mars?’
Their version of the Hunky Dory favourite debuted on the most recent episode of the show.
A turn away from the harsh synths that has dominated most of the pair’s soundtrack work for the series, their take on the Bowie classic is relatively sparse, driven by a piano lead line with ambient electronics underneath. It’s a haunting cover that perfectly captures the dystopian feel of the Watchmen universe.
Having composed the score for the entire series, Reznor and Ross have thus far released two volumes of music they made for Watchmen. The third – which ‘Life on Mars?’ is taken from – will be released Monday, 16th December. You can purchase the soundtracks on 180-gram vinyl through the Nine Inch Nails website.
The HBO adaptation of the classic comic book series is the first time the NIN collaborators have teamed up to compose for a network TV series; though they’ve composed scores for films such as 2010’s The Social Network and Gone Girl back in 2014.
Stream Reznor and Ross’ cover of ‘Life on Mars?’ below.
