In tribute to the sparse

By David
March 5th, 2008

Sparse could also describe Obama’s election results last night, but what I mean to talk about here is the much buzzed-about release from Nine Inch Nails this week and Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. Having just listened to and read each, respectively, the take away is the same. Is sparse making a comeback?

The Road, a recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and maybe more importantly for the publisher, a selection for Oprah’s bookclub, is a story of a man and his son in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world. The prose is descriptive, but also sparse, much like the general story. Looking at Amazon’s reviews of the book, the general reader seems to have enjoyed the book, but you will also witness someone chime in with the “Hey, there was nothing there” thought.

The same could easily be said about the new Nine Inch Nails release Ghosts I-IV. It is a two hour tone poem for the most part, but Trent was sharp enough to couple the minimal sounds with a collection of beautiful images which have been and will be released in the form of a deluxe PDF file and a physical book. It should be asked whether or not it should have been released under the moniker Nine Inch Nails as the music is not indicative of the bulk of their catalog. Especially if they happen to tour behind the music. But Trent has done a number of instrumental songs on previously released albums so this release feels like a natural progression in a sense, especially since he has the freedom now to do such things minus the shackles of a major label recording contract.

Sparse art is a refreshing change from the over-stimulation of people’s lives these days. Are we ready to go minimal?