Trent Reznor is planning to spend next year writing material for Nine Inch Nails.

The musician retired the band from live performance in 2009 so he could concentrate on other projects, but has said he plans to spend 2012 writing material with the project “in mind”.

When asked if he plans to work on Nine Inch Nails soon, Trent told BBC Radio 1: “For sure. I plan on spending a good portion of this year coming up writing with that in mind. Let’s see what happens.”

Since putting the project – of which he is the sole permanent member – on hold, Trent has started a new band, How to Destroy Angels, and worked on the Oscar winning soundtrack to ‘ The Social Network’ with Atticus Ross.

Trent and Atticus have also teamed for another soundtrack, to the US remake of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’, which he said was the sort of film he was more comfortable working on.

He joked: “I started thinking, ‘Finally! Now there’s serial killers, tension, anal rapings and stuff like that! “But there was an experimentation with familiar – almost orchestral-sounding things but treated in an unusual way.

“This isn’t a soundtrack that’s filled with ‘Star Wars’-esque theme songs.”