Before he was a globe-trotting musician with millions of streams and Red Rocks headlining shows under his belt, Trevor Christensen and his friends from Arvada’s Pomona High would set up at Leela European Cafe, just off Denver’s 16th Street, to play chess and amuse each other with magic tricks.
A proud member of the drumline for his high school marching band, Christensen brought his creative Colorado vibe to Boston when he attended Berklee College of Music — at least before dropping out to work on music full-time.
“I’m sure my songs would sound different if I was raised somewhere else, because there’s just something about the air in Denver,” said the 33-year-old, who since 2014 has written, produced and toured under the name Said the Sky. His expansive sonic palette includes soaring anthems, tender ballads, and hard-driving dance tracks with a focus on thumping bass and earworm melodies.
“When I’m out on tour for a month or two, I come back to Denver, and even the smell of the air here is satisfying,” said Christensen, who recently released a pair of new albums a mere two months apart. “Having so much sky probably helps, because you don’t get that in most cities. It’s mostly buildings and skyline.”
Christensen, who often plays festivals such as Bonnaroo and events like Denver’s Decadence EDM extravaganza, will perform songs from his new albums, “Closer to the Sun” (released November 2025) and “Salt & Silence” (January 2026) when Said the Sky headlines , for a 16-up and show. It starts at 8 p.m. at 4242 Wynkoop St. in the River North Art District.
Said the Sky has good company in Colorado, which is not only a top live music market in general, but a global hub for electronic and bass sounds. The state counts GRiZ, CloZee, Mersiv and Pretty Lights as residents — among other EDM luminaries who visit, work and tour here. But even by EDM’s immersive and risk-taking standards, the Mission Ballroom set is unusual for fans with support acts sandwiched between a pair of very different Said the Sky sets.
It’s not entirely strange for Christensen, however, who began playing piano at age 8 and has since gone on to tour and perform widely, including with platinum-selling Denver artist Illenium (a.k.a. Nick Miller). In 2023, Illenium became the first Colorado-based musician to headline Empower Field at Mile High with driving, thumping, and intensely melodic electronic dance music. As a friend, collaborator and member of his band, Christensen handled percussion and keyboards for that show and others.
“He lets me do my thing up there, but toward the beginning of the set he had me doing the vocoder part on ‘Starfall,’ because we wrote that one together,” Christensen said of the 2023 song, which currently has . “It was a big inspirational moment because I’ve never really considered myself a vocalist, even though I sing here and there.”
Now Christensen’s prepping a unique live set that opens with songs from the subdued, mostly percussion-free album “Salt & Silence,” followed by sets from Shallou and Zensei, and then another show-closing run with songs from “Closer to the Sun” and others. His high-concept “Icarus & I” tour has honed that format, with Christensen seated behind a custom-built piano for the “Salt & Silence” songs, and him standing and leading the crowd in a massive dance party for “Lost in the Sun” and other songs.
The two new albums add to an already deep catalog that includes LPs; collabs with vocalists and likeminded artists Seven Lions, Dabin, and William Black; remixes for acts such as The Chainsmokers and Selena Gomez; and uncredited but nationally known projects he’d rather not name.
Even with several shows under his belt that feature songs from the two latest albums, and more than a decade of stage experience in commanding crowds, his latest drive still has no set destination. It’s a sweeping exploration, he said, but it comes from a personal place.
“It felt weird going into this, to try to find space for so much ambient, symphonic and orchestral music,” he said. “I generally have a lot of chill stuff in my sets, but a whole album?”
For now, he’ll keep using the Greek myth of Icarus as a metaphor — flying too close to the sun will melt your wax wings, after all — but wants to leave specific interpretations up to fans who might apply it to their own lives. Said the Sky’s live experience is more about feeling than analysis, he said.
“Most of the writers and artists I work with are in the studio, so playing live is like a whole other world,” he said. “It sounds cheesy but I find my energy and genuine inspiration in the music, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. It’s an incredible thing that you can do with sound, to make somebody else feel the way I’m feeling right now.”
