Trentemoller interview: Creature of the Night(club)

Although 2005 saw Anders Trentemøller festooned with a bunch of industry awards, it seems that he has been a jack of all musical trades for quite some time now. The great Dane first performed in a rock band during the 80's until, after falling in love with his sampler, he moved on to electronic music. In 1997 Trentemøller formed Trigbag with DJ T.O.M (Tom Von Rosen) and became the first live-house act in Denmark, playing the Roskilde festival for 3 years. After Trigbag had dissolved in 2000, Trentemøller continued to nourish his unyielding musical appetite by performing in a big jazz band.

However, by 2002, he had returned to his electronic roots by releasing 'The Trentemøller EP' and, after the successful release of Beta Boy and Physical Fraction, Trentemøller was soon welcomed to the Poker Flat family. Now, in 2006, Trentemøller has again reinvented his musical personality through his debut album 'Last Resort'. Moving away from his much famed dance productions, 'Last Resort' is downtempo, poignant and deeply personal. The album features a host Danish musicians like DJ T.O.M and Mikael Simpson in addition to Trentemøller playing a variety of instruments himself: guitar, bass, celeste, glockenspiel, melodica, and musicbox. Indeed, it seems Trentemøller's musical repertoire is so frightfully large that he soon may rival Prince in a Battle of the Instruments!

Chilling out in his cold apartment in Copenhagen, Trentemøller had a chat with Amanda Storey about 'Last Resort', wacky tobacky and why the word "common" isn't so common in Danish.

Looking back at 2005, it was a big year for you in terms of industry recognition. Was there any award or title which felt particularly special-
The Best Producer Award was the most special. I really liked that one. But awards are not so important for me. For me, it is about playing live and doing it for the people. I am grateful for them [the awards] and for the hype, but they are not so important.

'Last Resort' is so different to your other dance production. What led to the creation of the album-
Well making a single dance release is much easier. It is much easier to make a 12inch dance record. But like I have said, I have been making this music for years [music like the 'Last Resort'], but I was waiting for the chance to make a whole album. I wanted to make a listening album which would be like a soundtrack to a movie. I was aware that that couldn't happen with 12inch releases.

So Poker Flat were supportive of your new creative endeavors-
Yes. They gave me 100% freedom to do what I liked. At the beginning they were very surprised with the album. It was so different from the techno-house tracks I had been making. But they were very much into the album, into the vibe I was creating. Yeah, they were very supportive.

Before you were saying that you wanted 'Last Resort' to be like a soundtrack to a movie. Were you inspired by any films in creating your album-
I have lots of inspiration. But honestly, my biggest inspiration is my own life, my own feelings and emotions. But yes am inspired by movies. I would say the films by David Lynch, especially 'Mulholland Drive', are inspirational because of its overall ambience, that there is a sense of paranoia lurking underneath. His films are multilayered and my music has so many layers too. I wanted it ['The Last Resort'] to sound beautiful but with a feeling of danger underneath - for there to be a contrast within the overall flavour of the sound.

That's a very apt analogy! I think that 'The Lost Highway' is also similar to 'Last Resort', especially those eerie repeated shots of the road. I think that also conjures up that sense of danger you were referring to.
Oh yeah, true. But Mulholland Drive was certainly a more direct inspiration

Now 'Last Resort' is a very personal album. Did you draw on any specific life experiences in crafting the

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