Trentemøller interview: “It’s a good little family we have.”
The Dreamweaver speaks
Trentemøller is waxing lyrical about the crack squad of musicians he’s assembled as his live unit. Understandable, perhaps, given that he’s fresh from their first rehearsal for several months when we catch Anders Trentemøller for a chat in Copenhagen, Denmark
“Yesterday was a busy day,” he says with the genuine enthusiasm of someone looking forward to , “we had our first rehearsals with the band for a long time, because we’re playing some festivals in August, so we had a rehearsal of the new songs, We had a rehearsal in June and then everyone went on holiday.
“They’re all people from the music scene that I adore – they all make their own music and they’re all super talented. So it means that they not only have a good ear for playing their own instruments but also for being in a band and transferring what’s been done into the studio into playing live. There are lots of details that get lost when you play live but also something new sometimes emerges than can be even more interesting. So I love playing live.”
The set up has remained the same as the tour for his last album, 2022’s Memoria. Which is significant, as the latest Trentemøller album Dreamweaver grew directly out of the insights gained, and the chemistry forged, by the dates played in support of Memoria.
That has manifested itself most obviously in the inclusion of Icelandic singer Disa Jakobs – brought in for the Memoria shows and also responsible for voicing the between-album singles ‘Into The Silence’, and a cover of ‘Cops On Our Tail’ (originally by The Raveonettes) – as the album’s one and only vocalist. “Having had various different guest vocalists on albums in the past,” he says, “I really thought it was important to have one consistent voice that went through the album this time.”
But the band themselves – Trentemøller himself on keys, Brian Batz on guitar, Jacob Haubjerg helping out on bass, guitar and vocals and Silas Tinglef on drums – also play an important role in the fresh flavour of Dreamweaver, an evolution that constitutes his and their furthest foray into the area of dreampop and shoegaze-esque alternative sounds yet.
Trentemøller himself makes no bones about the influence of two acts above all others on the album’s sound, namely The Cure and the Cocteau Twins, but while they are definitely evident, the addition of other flavours, from the distorted pop melodies of The Jesus & Mary Chain on ‘I Give My Tears’ to the ambient weightlessness of its beatless centrepiece ‘Hollow’, and Trentemøller trademark subtle electronic embellishments, it’s forging a new sound from these familiar ingredients. Scandi-gaze, perhaps?
“I try not to think too much about boxes to put it in,” he says, “because my music has never really fitted in. I remember, especially in the beginning, people found it really hard to label me. Often I was in the dance section and I didn’t really feel that was right at all. Now I tend to be in the indie section. But for me it’s more about trying to do good quality music. It’s easier now, I think, because the young people listening to music today don’t seem to be into one specific genre. They’re used to listening to a lot of different types of music. There are a lot of bad things about streaming but one of the good things is that it seems like people are no so genre-based any more.”
That can only be good for them, he says, as a live act. When he started out playing live, he says, the expectation was very much of a banging live electronica experience and his full live band was sometimes at cross pruposes with the ‘up for it’ dance crowds.
“I think, 15 years ago, sometimes people were a bit disappointed because it wasn’t what we were expected. But now, while people don’t always necessarily get exactly what they’re expecting, it is definitely representative of my sound.”
In any case, he isn’t showing any signs of stopping any time soon. Aside from anything else, he loves life on the road, not only presenting what is quite possibly a career highlight of an album but also visiting new places and spending time with band and crew alike.
“We’re very lucky to be able to play shows that pay for the bus and the crew – and that when we come off stage then we have the crew to do the work for us. They really work hard but hopefully they enjoy it too – some of them have been doing it with us for 15 years… It’s a good little family we have.”
Ben Willmott