In Profile: Trace Mountains

As Trace Mountains' Dave Benton found himself among a major life shift, he found refuge and revelation in his songwriting.

Photos by: Sam Soard

Trace Mountains, the project of Dave Benton, has released his new album Into The Burning Blue, via Lame-O Records. Enlisting Craig Hendrix (Japanese Breakfast) to bring his heartland indie rock to immersive new heights, the album begins with the crackle of a fire, as if something is burning and hatching into a new form.

As Benton grappled with the end of an 8-year romantic relationship, songs were pouring out of him in quick succession, often urgently before he had logically processed the emotions himself.  The pressure of this period crystallized Benton’s adventurous spirit and self-renewal as he embraced new high-fidelity sounds and conviction.

He was thrust into new creative territories, resulting in an album that defies the boundaries of his past work. Into the Burning Blue is a testament to moving forward and keeping your eyes on the burning horizon line—capturing heartache, joy, and growth in equal measure.

Lead single "In A Dream" is a sprawling 7-minute epic that repossesses mid-80s rock with a cinematic and frantic American perspective. The track was praised by Rolling Stone as a Song You Need To Know, Paste Magazine, Brooklyn Vegan, and Stereogum, who named it one of the Best Songs of the Week (#2) upon its release and called it “a major departure” that “sounds like an organic change, as if Dave Benton had nowhere else to go.”