Back in 2009 beloved Danish artist Trentemøller released a pretty memorable compilation album called Harbour Boat Trips Vol. 1, featuring songs from various genres that were all combined by his love for the Copenhagen harbour. A second part of the series never happed… well, until now. Next month Anders Trentemøller will finally release a follow-up which also includes a brand new track called Transformer Man. The song is a cover of Neil Young‘s 1982 track and today we’re giving you the exclusive premiere of it right here on NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION.
The idea of literally transforming this song came from his longtime collaborator Marie Fisker as he explains:
‘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 version is one of Young’s more unusual pieces, surprising with a pretty corny vocoder and disco-pop sound. And that’s exactly what made it so attractive for Anders as he furthermore explains: ‘I thought it could be interesting to get rid of all that disco/vocoder stuff and focus on the song itself and suddenly it shined in new splendor’. And the result definitely gives the track a new twist while also spreading the familiar Trentemøller vibes we’ve all come to love over the past years. Fisker’s vocals definitely lift the tune to new heights and if you don’t believe us witness it right here.
Harbour Boat Trips Vol. 02 – Copenhagen by Trentemøller arrives on November 23. Don’t forget also enjoy our extended interview feature with him from earlier this year about our shared admiration for The Cure.