Danish composer and producer Anders Trentemøller presents his newest album “Memoria.”
 “Memoria” is an orchestrated, multi-dimensional story, exclusively written and produced over a
 year and a half. Trentemøller, isolated in his own creative processes, discusses the imperative
 relationship within music and memory and the contrasting themes of joyful light and isolated
 darkness.
 Touring in Denver for the third time, Trentemøller and his live band showcased a
 featured debut of “Memoria” at the Bluebird Theatre, Sunday September 25th . Trentemøller live
 includes a drummer, bass player, guitarist, vocalist and Trentemøller playing the synthesizer and 
percussion.
The upcoming performance of “Memoria” is a contrast within itself, originally a solo project, the
 tour represents the paradoxical and contrasting themes behind Trentemøller’s production style
 and musical expression—liberating atmospheric melodies from personalized influences and 
memories.


Can you walk me through your latest album, “Memoria”?


This new album was the first time that I wrote all the lyrics myself, normally I'm working
 together with a vocalist and the vocalist are always writing their own lyrics. And then together,
 with the vocalist, I write the melodies. But this time, I wanted to do everything myself, the
 melodies and vocals and everything. I was so lucky that I could do the vocals with my girlfriend,
 Lisbet Fritze—that was quite easy for me, just working with her because we know each other
 and I just dictated how songs should be because I had a very strong vision about the melodies 
and the lyrics, too. But, of course, she also came with inputs, and she also colored the sample
 with her beautiful voice, but I pretty much got the vocals the way that I felt they should be.


 

What other creative outlets do you find inspiration from that is not music?


I feel the biggest inspiration sometimes, is actually, not from music, specifically, but it's more
 about a vibe or feeling that you have. It can be a dream that you wake up from and you have a
 certain feeling sitting in your body still. For me, when I was in Iceland, it was really inspiring 
because the nature is so wild. It's so dramatic up there, I was really inspired by the big 
mountains, and it's so dark everywhere—it somehow inspired me in a very positive way. It's very
 much about atmospheres, I think, is what mostly inspires me. Sometimes it can also be that I hear
 a cool guitar sound in one music piece that I really want to try out or maybe hear a drum sound
 that I love and try to recreate. And it always ends up being something different because I'm never 
interested in doing a copy, I always try to make it my own, so to speak.

 

What are your creative processes for beginning a project? What techniques do you use to
 combine the vocals, melodies, and soundscapes you incorporate into your production?


Most of the times, it's actually in front of my piano in the studio. Because I like to not sit in front
 of my computer with my computer monitor and visually see stuff that I'm doing. I like to be in
 my own space, just use my ears and try to focus on writing some good melodies and interesting
 chord progressions. And when I finally have something that I'm happy with, I begin to work on 
the melody for the vocals. 
It is a very lonely process of writing music. I'm sitting in my studio for one and a half year, and  I
don't really play the music for anyone else. It really is a lonely process, but I also like it that way
because I have 100% control over everything, and I really want that artistic freedom in my music 
making. It was a bit scary in the beginning, but it was quite a good experience for me writing
 everything myself and I will definitely do that on my next albums.


Your production features a mix of feelings, incorporating the themes of light and dark,
 turbulence and comfort— could you describe these portrayals further and how these 
themes drive your beats and samples?


I've always been inspired by contrast in music or in all kinds of art, but especially in music. I
 like to work with several dimensions in the music. I think if you listen to my music, especially
 on headphones, you might discover new layers when you listen to a song the fourth or fifth time.
 I like to work with the sonic details in music, and it is very often a clash between warm and cold
 analog—I also like it when my lyrics has a bit of hope in it because if it's only about being
 depressed, it's too boring. And you know, life is full of a lot of contrast. Even if my music is
 quite melancholic, I feel that I'm quite a happy guy. I really like to balance everything.


 

How do you personally identify to the themes in your production, how much of your own
self do you incorporate within your sound style?


When I started to think about this album, I realized that memory is such a big part of my creative 
process. And it is a big part of everyone's creative process. It is a big part of the human mind. Of
course. Sometimes music can bring you back in time, it can trick your memory. If you listen to a
 song that you haven't listened to for 20 years, and you suddenly hear that song, and that song
 triggers something in you, you slip back into that special situation when you listened to that song 
the first time. I think it's a quite magical thing about music, memory, goes hand in hand. So, it
 felt natural for me to use memory, memoria, because it is such a big part of creating music to me.


 

What do you hope to showcase to audience members who may be seeing you perform for
 the first time?


I hope that they will delve into my music which is quite contrast full, again, because we have
 both the cinematic the dreamy stuff, but we also have something quite tangible. And we have
 stuff that is quite punk rock, a lot of energy, then we have more dreamy noisy stuff. It is very 
much a journey that I hope people will take on together with me and my band. We have some really fantastic visuals. And so, it is very much a journey that you have to go on. And you have 
to let yourself into.


Listen here for a personal experience of Trentemøller and his journey, “Memoria.”
 https://trentemoller.lnk.to/Memoria