Hear Trent Reznor’s Dark, Environmental Ode ‘A Minute to Breathe’

A day after Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross teased a minute-long snippet of their powerful new track “A Minute to Breathe,” the Nine Inch Nails singer and his frequent collaborator have unveiled the full six-minute track and its corresponding lyric video on Apple Music.

“I wrote this with Atticus Ross for the upcoming film Before the Flood,” Reznor wrote of the moody track. “The film will air globally in 171 countries and 45 languages on the National Geographic Channel starting October 30th. The full soundtrack is a collaboration between us, Gustavo Santaolalla and Mogwai.”

“We pray/ for the rain/ to wash away,” Reznor sings on the atmospheric cut amid breathtaking images of nature from Before the Flood. On the chorus, Reznor forewarns, “I don’t want to say goodbye/ Stars falling from the sky / We will all be judged/ By what we leave behind.” As images emerge showing mankind’s environmental savagery and the impact it has on climate change, the music grows more ominous. “I just need a minute to breathe,” Reznor calls out.

Before the Flood is a call-to-action co-directed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens. In a statement, Stevens said of the film’s soundtrack, “The incredible music composed for Before the Flood was one of the most unique collaborations I can think of in scoring a film. Reznor, Ross, Santaolalla and Mogwai become one voice in capturing the emotion and feeling of Leonardo DiCaprio’s journey to understanding where we stand in terms of climate change, how far gone we are, what can we do about solving this issue and why people are still resistant to understanding how important it is.”