Trentemøller: “Music puts me in a dreamlike state“

There are some artists you just can’t categorise at all, because of their musical style, but also because of their ‘anything but commercial’ attitude. Anders Trentemøller is definitely one of those artists.

Growing up in the Danish harbour town of Vordingborg, the musician, composer and producer found his musical voice between the vastness of the sea and the nature of the Zealand region. In the early ‘90s, he moved to Copenhagen to form his first band, and later on released his first solo project, Trentemøller EP, which at the time was still characterised by its groovy dance rhythms. But not long after, on his debut album The Last Resort (2006), elements of shoegaze, new wave, electronic music and synth all shined through, giving his music a unique, complex and transcendent sound that lies outside usual genre boundaries.

Trentemøller has certainly carved out a firm place for himself in the Nordic and international music scenes, with his exceptional technical finesse, openness to musical influences and experimentation, as well as collaborations with iconic bands such as Depeche Mode — in 2013 he was their support act for the ‘Delta Machine’ stadium tour. His recent projects like Fixion (2016), Obverse (2019) and Memoria (2022) not only open up new instrumental realms, but also show his talent as a producer and songwriter, who has not lost his modest, introverted and above all friendly demeanour, despite his huge success. To mark the release of his new album Dreamweaver, we were able to get to know the artist a bit better in an exclusive online interview and talk to him about his musical beginnings and current projects:

How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard of you?

That’s always a really hard question to answer and I am not a big fan of boxing myself in… But I would say maybe Dream pop — that’s a good way of describing my music. You know, there are definitely elements of shoegaze and indie rock. There’s a little bit of electronic music too, but not really that much anymore. So, I think Dreampop is quite a good box to put it in (laughs).

What first drew you to music and particularly synthesizers?

I still remember that I built my own drum set out of pots and pans when I was three years old, that was in the early ‘70s. I always played whatever was on the radio, so the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and stuff like that. And then later as a teenager, I remember the first song that I listened to, and it totally blew me away. I was actually scared because it sounded so different to all the music that I normally heard which was just mainstream pop. The song was “Venus in Furs“ by The Velvet Underground and I thought: “Wow, music can sound like this?!“ Maybe that was the thing that kick started it for me — this drone thing and the violin and the whole atmosphere of that song — that really blew my mind.

When I was 20, I started my first band. My parents bought me an upright piano and I was inspired by The Cure, The Smiths — that whole UK shoegaze scene. I was a bit of an outsider in school and I studied quite a lot, so I didn’t really have many friends. But there were also other kids that didn’t have many friends and they also played music. So suddenly we had something together! We didn’t really want to play football and we weren’t interested in motorcycles and stuff like that, that wasn’t really our thing. I think we were a little bit more introverted back then.

Was there a eureka moment where you just knew you wanted to become a musician?

There was actually a moment when I was ten years old. We had this school play and, you know, I was so shy that I really didn’t want to be on stage. I tried all kinds of different things so I wouldn’t have to do a dialogue so I actually asked my teacher if I could write some new music for the play, to replace the music written by the composer. My teacher was very surprised but then said, ok let’s try it! At first he was kind of laughing at me, but I actually ended up writing a completely new soundtrack which I then taught to the other kids. For me, it felt like I had cheated because I didn’t have to be on stage. I could just play the piano next to it... But when the play was over — and, you know, all the parents and other kids were there — the teacher invited me on stage and the other kids applauded me! Then I realized they actually thought it was cool that I’d written all the music. So I understood, maybe I’m good at something.

I always loved playing and making music and since then it definitely became my outlet to express my feelings, just coping with the world in a way. That school play back then really opened up a whole new world for me and since then I just followed that path.

But being a musician means also being on stage, right?

The funny thing is that I really love being on stage and playing my music. If I had to do a speech at a family party, I would die. I really hate speaking in front of a lot of people, but I can easily stand in front of 90,000 people at festivals like the Roskilde in Denmark (laughs). I feel so secure behind my music and I really enjoy sharing it with people.

But of course I also like to be isolated in my studio for months, you know, writing music. And I really like just being on my own because I’m still quite shy about sharing my work until it’s like 90% finished. It’s still a very fragile thing for me, so I like to just work on it without anyone interfering with anything. And then after, let’s say, six months in the studio without seeing anyone, it’s really nice to get together with a band and share our vision for the music. They also give me feedback and so we form the music together. You know, when we’re playing live, it’s not me with a backing band, it’s a real live band. I’m just the fifth member of that band and that is what’s really important to me.

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Trentemoller © Karen Rosetzsky (GIJS SPIERINGS)

What is the main idea of Dreamweaver? It obviously has a very spiritual name.

For me writing music is really about trying to connect to your subconsciousness in a way and ‘dream-weaving’ is another word I use to describe that, trying to use my subconsciousness to create music. Because I’m really trying not to think too hard and analyze stuff when I’m writing music. I’m just trying to let everything flow. It’s a very dreamlike state you’re in when you are lucky enough to be creative, because a lot of the time, it’s also just me in front of my piano, trying out different melodies and chord progressions. And then there’s maybe 10% that’s just magical and suddenly these melodies come up with ideas and vibes and it’s just like being in a dream. Sometimes I can go on for hours without eating or drinking anything, just being in my own space.

So I really think that making music while being in that state of mind is actually dream-weaving. I felt it was a nice theme for the whole album. Day to day there’s a lot of practical stuff to organize. So when I find the time, I really love to just dive into my dream world and work with feelings that I maybe haven’t experienced yet or just don’t feel them in that moment — like very dark feelings, loss or melancholy — but they are still inside me deep down and part of my history. And that’s the best thing for me, to have that output with my music. If I didn’t have that output, I think I would go mad or something. It sounds like a big cliché, but I’m really using it as some kind of therapy.

You once said that you find it very inspiring to play around with new sounds before you start a new project. Did you do that with this one?

Yes, I always do that! I just take a synth or a guitar or drums or the vocals and try to run through them. And sometimes happy accidents happen. The knobs are placed in the wrong position, but sometimes it sounds really cool and it’s never something that I would be able to come up with if I had planned it. Just sitting in front of all these instruments really makes a difference. My studio is a five minute walk from where I live and where I have a lot of my stuff. I particularly love guitar pedals. It’s a little pedal with maybe 3 or 5 knobs and you can very easily get some crazy sounds out of them. I also started to collect them because I’m just crazy about them — and now I’ve got too many… I think I have about 200 pedals in the studio and they’re taking up the walls! But the most important thing for me is that everything is just fun and relaxed, like I hate reading manuals and I never work in a technical way. I just like to turn the knobs and see what happens.

When I make music, I try not to think and analyse it too much, I just let everything flow. It’s a very dream-like state to be in. Sometimes I can go on for hours without eating or drinking anything.

What was your songwriting process for this album?

In general I would say 80% of the songs have been written on the piano, not in front of the computer or anything. I really like to focus on the songwriting because that’s definitely the most important thing for me. Then later, I can dress up a song in different ways — it can be more folky or more noisy or more electronic or more jazzy or whatever. I feel like having this core focus on trying to write a good song that can be played maybe on an acoustic guitar at the fireplace is so important. So I often just record my ideas on my iPhone actually or sometimes I don’t record them at all. If I can remember the song the next day when I come to the studio, that tells me it might be a good idea, a good place to start. In the studio I try to figure out how the bass would sound or the melody or the vocal parts, I’m trying to figure out all the instruments and sounds and sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s really hard to get exactly that sound I’m imagining.

Once the song and production is done, I spend quite a lot of time mixing the small details, because I really love when you’re listening to a song, maybe for the fifth or sixth time, and you suddenly discover new layers to the music, new little details, and when you’re listening with headphones, that can also give you that something extra. In the meantime, I’m also very aware not to overproduce because there’s always endless possibilities, especially with the new software. I always try to remember: What was the first initial idea? And very often I get back to where I started. I had to go through a lot of different stuff and then I peel those layers back to find myself sometimes at the beginning again.

Besides your music, the artwork also seems to play an important role, doesn’t it?

Yeah, for me it all comes together. The cover art, the videos and the stage design. It’s not only about music, it’s very much also about coming up with all kinds of art and ideas like that for the whole project. The whole visual side of it is also something that I think is super fun to do, especially at concerts, and I’m really into all the aspects of the creative process.

From your 2006 debut album The Last Resort to Dreamweaver — do you see an artistic development across your discography?

Sometimes people ask me if this album is a reaction to another one, is it the opposite or is it a follow up… I think it’s up to the listeners to decide. Because I don’t really think about my previous albums when I start something new, I’m looking ahead to my next projects. I just want to do something totally fresh and new, but of course when writing and producing music I always put my sound and style at its core, nothing is completely reinvented. I’m just trying to make the music that feels right in that moment for me.

Even so, there has been pretty clear development in your music over time. Did anything influence this in particular?

Basically it’s really about experimenting with lots of different stuff. In my first album there were definitely a few electronic elements and I took inspiration from artists like Mazzy Star, some Bowie tracks, e-bow guitars and also real drums. Lots of people often tell me that the first album was purely electronic, and then I have to tell them, no, there were actually quite a lot of guitars, bass, and other instruments on it (laughs). I think it was just a natural development of how I liked the sound and so the music on my next albums became less and less electronic. I have really never seen myself as an electronic artist. I’m more pure, you know? Now I think it’s a quite small percentage of what I’m doing but I still like to mix, like in Dreamweavers. The new album starts with a kind of electronic sound and then gets into some guitar and drums with an evolution to an ambient vibe, then switching back to electronic again. I like it when a song starts at a certain point and then goes on a journey, up and down in terms of energy and sound. It’s like a dream that doesn’t always follow a straight path, but with different levels. That’s exactly what I want to achieve with my music.