Trentemøller started music in the late 1990s with different indie rock projects. In 2006, following a line of more electronic-orientated 12-inch EPs, Trentemøller released his debut album, The Last Resort. In 2007 he assembled his first full live band, with Henrik Vibskov on drums and Mikael Simpson on guitar. Complete with visuals from director Karim Ghahwagi, the ensuing ‘Trentemøller: Live In Concert’ tour brought him to the United States for the first time as well as to festivals including Glastonbury (UK), Roskilde (Denmark) and Melt! (Germany).
In 2009, The Trentemøller Chronicles, a double compilation of unreleased songs, non-album tracks and remixes for acts including Röyksopp, Moby and The Knife, was released. He also headlined the Orange Stage at Roskilde Festival, playing in front of 60,000 people, with a set design created by Vibskov.
After starting up his own record label, In My Room, Trentemøller's second album Into the Great Wide Yonder was released in 2010. It was a move into a more analogue sound influenced by indie and post-punk, and incorporating more live instrumentation and vocals. Expanding his live band to seven people, he continued to tour around the world for two years. 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.”[1] Trentemøller toured widely across the US and appeared on Carson Daly. The world tour ended with two shows in Christiania, Copenhagen, released as the live album Live In Copenhagen.
In September 2013, Trentemøller released his third full-length album Lost, including collaborations with Low, Jonny Pierce from The Drums, Marie Fisker, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, Jana Hunter of Lower Dens, Ghost Society and Sune Wagner of The Raveonettes. That year, Trentemøller also supported Depeche Mode on their Delta Machine world tour and appeared at Melt!, Dour, Pitch and Zurich Open Air. In 2014, Trentemøller composed the theme for the AMC series Halt and Catch Fire.[2] In 2014, Lost was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[3] which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe.[4]
Trentemøller's fourth album, Fixion[circular reference], was released on 16 September 2016.[5] It featured vocals by Marie Fisker, Lisbet Fritze and Jehnny Beth.[6]
A fifth album, Obverse, was released in 2019. It was nominated for IMPALA's European Independent Album of the Year Award 2019, but did not win.[7][8]
Trentemøller has frequently collaborated with Swedish artist Andreas Emenius, who directed music videos for the songs Come Undone (2014), Deceive (2014), Complicated (2016), and Redefine (2016).[9]
Trentemøller has received two Danish Music Awards for his 2006 debut album The Last Resort, in the categories "Danish Electronica Release of the Year" and "Danish Producer of the Year", in 2007. He was first awarded a Danish DeeJay Award in 2004 for his EPTrentemøller EP, and have since received a total of 11 awards. In 2010 Trentemøller was nominated "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical" at the 52nd Grammy Awards for his remix of Franz Ferdinand's "No You Girls".