Danish producer/DJ Anders Trentemøller has gone from strength to strength since The Last Resort, his visionary 2006 debut record. In his work over that stretch, Trentemøller has established himself as a reliable interpreter of ’80s new-romantic synth pop viewed through his contemporary cinemascopic lens, almost always accompanied by a collaborative coterie of largely female vocalists. His last album, 2013’s Lost, was a veritable mixtape of styles and voices, including Low and the Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner, among others. In an effort to shake things up, he tightened the focus slightly with Fixion.
By contrast, the new album features just three distinct vocalists: longtime co-conspirator Marie Fisker, Lisbet Fritze (ex-Giana Factory, Trentemøller’s touring guitarist) and Jehnny Beth (Savages, whose last effort was mixed by Trentemøller). And that trio of voices invests Fixion with all of the epic, chilly majesty of its predecessors with a shade more cohesion and less genre hopping. Trentemøller’s flawless ear for melancholy, melodicism and atmospheric drama gives Fixion the feel of a soundtrack to a gothic/cyberpunk indie film and provides further evidence of its creator’s electropop mastery.
—Brian Baker
