Echoplex
"Echoplex" is a song by Nine Inch Nails first released online via Facebook on May 2, 2008. It is the fifth track on the album The Slip, but is also included on the promotional 2008 tour EP, Lights In The Sky.
The artwork may symbolize someone being surrounded by sound, as if it were echoing around them. It may also symbolize walls around the person, which makes sense due to the lyrics making a reference to sound bouncing off of walls.
The lyrics suggest a scenario where someone has been in solitary confinement for too long, driving him or her, to insanity, where "you will never ever get to me in here".
Another possible scenario is a direct link between the lyrics present on this song and Demon Seed. ("You feel me breathe" on Echoplex vs. "I can hear it breathe").
The lyrics could also be extremely literal, referring to the solitude of wherever Trent comes up with his music.
Appearances
Versions
Echoplex
This is the only official version of the song.
Echoplex (Live At Rehearsals)
This version of the song was released online via nin.com and PitchforkTV. It was filmed and recorded in the band's rehearsal space in mid 2008 and directed by Rob Sheridan. Josh Freese uses a touch-screen computer to create the opening drum loop before joining in himself with a different rhythm on top of the loop for the second verse. It also features on The Slip, on a DVD of rehearsal footage.
Live
"Echoplex" was performed live on Lights In The Sky Tour.
Lyrics
Nice and high and far apart
Just like they said
I built this place with broken parts
Just like they said
You chip away the old version of you
You'd be surprised at what you can do
I'm safe in here
Irrelevant
Just like they said
My voice just echoes off these walls
You feel me breathe
I am watching you
I see it all
The many ways you can't get to me
I see it all
I see the Hell you put yourself through
Oh the things I could do (if I wanted to)
My voice just echoes off these walls
My voice just echoes off these walls
I don't need anything at all
My voice just echoes off these walls
And I just slowly fade away
You will never ever get to me in here
Trivia
- Echoplex is a specific type/brand of musical special effects boxes/gear.
- While performing Echoplex as part of the Lights in the Sky tour in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 31, 2008 (Halloween night), a malfunction occurred with the interactive video drum simulator operated by drummer Josh Freese at the opening of the song. Later in the show, a frustrated Trent Reznor offered a brief speech explaining that the malfunction was caused by an audience member who was shining a laser pointer toward the stage. Near the end of this speech, he jokingly clarified with an inviting statement to the audience that although he wouldn't harm the troublesome person himself, he wouldn't "be responsible for what happens, and should happen, to the motherf*****". Additional technical difficulties that occurred during the show were explained as having been attributed to a missing video tech crew member, giving the band no choice but to "wing it" with the video equipment.
Footage of both the Echoplex opening screen malfunction and Trent Reznor's ensuing speech were captured by audience members, and can be found on YouTube.