Trentemøller and the neon glazed sonic meat grinder of "Dead Or Alive" (Official Video)

 

"you're not dead or alive..."

It is does not go unnoticed that Danish composer, musician, and producer Trentemøller has a musical moniker that sounds so similar to steamroller at least to me, a westerner who is not familiar with how someone in Copenhagen would pronounce Anders' surname. Step dead in the center of Anders' latest massive whirlwind of emotional sound "Dead Or Alive" and dark imagery might fill your head. The constantly pushing, slamming drum beat seems to be running for it's life as a flood of churning synths pitch bending and whirring counter position against chunky tactile bass lines and guitar feedback tones. The full tilt sensory satiation might feel thrilling or might cause itchy anxiety inside your brain. Anders' shoegazed, neon glazed vocal aesthetic is darkly dreamy and suggestive, sometimes hard to decipher, feeling glacial and uneasy, "you're not dead or alive" is what I hear or maybe imagine.

This meat grinder of a song is from Trentemøller's new studio album "Memoria" dropping February 11th, 2022 via In My Room and as pr notes indicate "fusing noise rock and jet flanging dark psych".

Listening I have a wicked narcotic grin on my face. Check out the Official Video as directed by Fryd Frydendahl and starring Sigrid Stigsdatter.

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://www.facebook.com/trentemoller

https://trentemoller.bandcamp.com/

https://www.trentemoller.com/

https://www.instagram.com/trentemoeller/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF5FI-ATbiOxuM0Wpr_1juA


Danish composer, musician, and producer Trentemøller has unveiled his newest single + video, “Dead Or Alive,” the latest off his upcoming album Memoria, out February 11 via his own label, In My Room. No stranger to noise rock or dark psych, “Dead Or Alive” fuses both to create a powerful track, coming out of the gate at full throttle and storming the senses. A hooky bass line opens the track, ultimately taunting whip-crack drums into entering an unabating duel. Oscillating echoes materialize, like murmurs from the netherworld, eventually culminating into actual voices. Does the song’s mantra, “You’re not dead or alive” refer to liminality, as we hurl towards whatever is next, or call into question our somatic state entirely?

Whereas the previous release, “All Too Soon,” delicately explores our chapter of morality, “Dead Or Alive” comes from a more primal place. Disorienting strobe light guitar collides with a jet flanging psychic assault, ratcheting everything up one more notch before it all collapses upon itself.


With Memoria, Trentemøller continues to work with familiar themes of light and dark, turbulence and serenity, piercing chill and comforting warmth; clearly inspired by the inherent antipodal elements of the Nordic environment he calls home. He pushes deeper into this familiar territory, while simultaneously broadening his scope. His longest album yet, clocking in at 14 songs, it features somber, introspective pieces, motorik, shoegaze, noise rock, and electronic pop, featured in its first single, “In The Gloaming.” As with 2019’s Obverse–which featured vocals from Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Lindberg, Lina Tullgren, and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell–Memoria includes both instrumental and vocal songs, and for the first time, Trentemøller also composed all the vocal melodies and lyrics on the album, which are solely performed by Lisbet Fritze.

Copenhagen’s Anders Trentemøller has long been respected as a creator of extraordinarily memorable melodies and lush soundscapes, but for the last decade he’s been getting long overdue praise for being a producer with few rivals, as well. While many artists follow a pattern of invention and reinvention, Anders’ arc has been a series of points along the same curve, playing the long game, with each release representing the next chapter in a constantly evolving series. Contrasts and paradoxes are often explored, ultimately acknowledged in the title of his last album, Obverse. Other themes may revolve around reminiscence and remembrance, while eschewing nostalgia. Memoria digs in deeper, and honors the five canons of storytelling, including inventio, dispositio, elocutio and pronuntiatio.

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