Anders Trentemøller the Danish indie/electronic music composer from Copenhagen just released a compilation album, Harbour Boat Trips Vol. 2 – Copenhagen, and premiered a cover of Neil Young’s “Transformer Man.” This is his first release since 2016’s Fixion. 

Trentemøller explained that the idea to cover “Transformer Man” came from his longtime collaborator Marie Fisker:
“Although I’m a huge Neil Young fan I actually didn’t know about this song until Marie Fisker played it to me when we sat down and thought about some songs that would be fun to cover for the Harbour Boat Trips Mix I was working on. I wasn’t a fan of the song and its sound in the first place, but the melody, especially the hookline, somehow caught me.”

The original Neil Young song was released during a period that found him experimenting with vocoders and disco-pop; which, as it turns out, is what made the idea of covering it all too tempting. “I thought it could be interesting to get rid of all that disco/vocoder stuff and focus on the song itself,” Trentemøller explained. “Suddenly it shined in new splendor.” His reimagining of “Transformer Man,” coupled with Fisker’s ethereal vocals, breathes new life into the mercurial Neil Young deep cut.

Taking a look back on his career, Trentemoller released his debut album The Last Resort in 2006. The Trentemøller Chronicles, a double compilation of unreleased songs, non-album tracks and remixes for acts including Röyksopp, Moby and The Knife, was released in 2009.

After starting up his own record label, In My Room, Trentemøller’s second album Into the Great Wide Yonder was released in 2010. His appearance at 2011’s Coachella Festival was described by NME as “one of the biggest breakouts of Coachella,” saying he “stunned all onlookers and became the toast of the fest.”

Trentemøller’s music has been used by film directors, including Oliver Stone (Savages), Pedro Almodóvar (The Skin I Live In) and Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone). In September 2013, Trentemøller released his third full-length album Lost and his fourth album, Fixion was released on 16 September 2016. It featured vocals by Marie Fisker, Lisbet Fritze and Jehnny Beth.

Harbour Boat Trips Vol. 2 – Copenhagen Tracklist
1. “Harbour Boat Trips Vol. 02 Copenhagen mixed by Trentemøller”
2. Pyrit – “Time For Wind”
3. A Place To Bury Strangers – “Never Coming Back (Trentemøller Remix)”
4. The Raveonettes – “Expelled From Love”
5. How Do I – “Knowing Me, Knowing You”
6. Kira Skov – “I Celebrate My Life (Trentemøller Remix)”
7. The Lollipops – “Naked When You Come”
8. Tropic Of Cancer – “Children Of A Lesser God”
9. Black Marble – “Static”
10. Trentemøller – “One Eye Open (Trentemøller Remix HBT Edit)”
11. John Maus & Molly Nilsson – “Hey Moon!”
12. Neil Young – “Transformer Man”
13. Slowdive – “Slomo”
14. Moon Duo – “Lost In Light”
15. CTM – “Paloma Pt.2”
16. The KVB – “In Deep”
17. Levin Goes Lightly – “1989”

Photo credit: Pamela Lin