Trentemoller - Dreamweaver [In My room]

Format: Clear crystal transparent LP (booklet, sticker and download code).
CAT: imr52lp

In May, fans received the first new music from Trentemøller since 2022. A new single, “A Different Light,” showcased a stunning mix of prismatic space rock and folk. For those wondering if this portended a full album release, Dreamweaver will be out in September, on Friday the 13th.

Featuring 10 tracks that traverse Trentemøller’s multiple musical strengths, Dreamweaver also represents a clear artistic jump, exploring new terrain while maintaining the overall essence. The tracks with vocals feature collaborations with Icelandic singer Disa, who has been working with Trentemøller since the Memoria tour. After surprising audiences with her own reimagined versions of songs from the catalog, Disa featured on two singles in 2022: “Into The Silence” and a cover of “Cops On Our Tail,” originally by Trentemøller’s traveling companions, The Raveonettes.

The opening track of Dreamweaver, led by nylon strings and the album's first single, “A Different Light,” contains many of Trentemøller’s hallmarks: the exploration of dichotomies, musical shadow play, Nordic chill, and warm waves. It opens the door for the hypnotic “Nightfall,” with its unmoored vocal, wistful guitars, and a desert-at-dawn coolness. The third track in this opening trifecta, “Dreamweavers,” finds its groove with a soft percussive trot that kicks in after what sounds like a shortwave radio scanning for the right chords, finally tuning into an ethereal voice. Seemingly keeping a thoughtful pace along with the previous two songs, the track and by extension the album soon bursts open by incorporating the rest of the elements with a grand, luxurious blast.

Dreamweaver is about to enter its next phase. With the floodgate opened wide, the raucous “I Give My Tears,” driven by its distorted, sliding bassline, spills into the void. It is followed by its sister, the most chaotic track on Dreamweaver, “Behind My Eyes.” Arriving as a piece of noise rock pandemonium, “Behind My Eyes” cannot be contained in its luxurious chamber. A whip-like drum machine and convulsing guitars clash against each other in the song’s verses. Tension builds as particles collide, surpassing the critical mass point, unleashing the chain reaction that is the chorus. At times it evokes the proto-gaze tracks that gave birth to dream pop; at other moments it redefines what it is. There’s no time to contemplate it, as the song disintegrates in an instant of microphonic feedback.

A lull follows with the sleepwalking duo of “Hollow” and “Empty Beaches.” Then, a moment of intensity returns with the rising textures and tribal drum blasts of “In A Storm,” before being quenched with the slo-core ambience of “Winter’s Ghost” and “Closure.” This diptych closes an album that certainly feels true to Trentemøller’s style but is also much more psychedelic than his previous offerings.

Dreamweaver will be released under Trentemøller’s In My Room label. It is a supremely immersive experience, destined to unleash any latent hallucinations you might be harboring.