Danish electronic DJ/producer Trentemøller is currently working on a soundtrack to an apocalyptic painting hanging in the Danish National Gallery. The 15th century piece of unknown Spanish origin depicts a scene from the book of Revelations where the angels of God follow Lucifer, rather than the archangel Michael, indicating that enemies of the true faith must be killed.

“The painting is naturally quite dark, and by the looks of it, it seems like Satan might actually win the battle,” Trentemøller tells Spinner. “It’s very dark and not very positive, but its psychedelic imagery really caught my eye. I didn’t have so much art education in school so I will definitely learn something here. The tune is coming out as a bit of an abstract sound clash.”

Trentemøller’s musical education started in his youth playing drums and guitars in various Danish indie rock bands but he found the trouble of finding a coherent sound difficult with so many other parties involved. Then he went solo.

“People always have different ideas that compromise yours when you’re working in a group, it’s a challenge to make a sound that way. So I started on my own with a sampler and an Atari computer with just 1MB of RAM; I made my own music and rules, so to speak. After 10 years, I released my first album [as Trentemøller], ‘The Last Resort,’ and started to play instruments again — physical ones, not just computers.”

While his songs originated in the discotheques, Trentemøller’s music has a signature moodiness, his soundscapes typically brooding. “It’s not like I’m always crying, but many people have said that my music has a melancholic feeling, and it’s true,” he says. “I put many layers of feelings into my songs. Yes, I have been inspired by stuff like the Cure orJoy Division or Mazzy Star — and it’s quite natural and typically Scandinavian to have this dark feeling in the music, maybe because it’s always raining here. But there are bands like Sigur Rós, and their music is not sad at all, but it still retains a subtle melancholic yet beautiful sound.”

Trentemøller is also about to release a new album, ‘Reworked/Remixed,’ comprised of covers from past albums and various remixes by the likes of Andrew Weatherall,Modeselektor, Efterklang and Sting’s daughter, the up-and-coming I Blame Coco. The remix component to the album is no surprise given the producer’s favourite form of collaboration is the remix swap.

“Sometimes I’ll remix a song it for free, especially when it’s a remix swap. Like on this album, I did one for UNKLE [for ‘The Answer, feat. Big In Japan’] and they do one for me [with ‘Neverglade’]. There was no money between us and we are helping each other — I really admire this kind of exchange, when it’s from artist to artist, and not for the label itself.”

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