by Giliann Karon (@lethalrejection)
Trace Mountains, the project of New York-based musician Dave Benton, leans away from humble lo-fi beginnings in favor of twangy precision on the latest album, Into the Burning Blue. After splitting with his partner of eight years, songs poured out of him before he could even process his emotions himself. From the ashes of his burnt relationship emerges newfound clarity. Renewal and liberation finally feel within reach.
photo credit: Sam Soard
GILIANN KARON: Each song on your album, Into the Burning Blue, is assigned a different shade. Does color theory typically guide your songwriting?
DAVE BENTON: No, but I was working with my friend Mallory, who wrote the bio. She was picking up on the theme of blue and originally related it to the blues. I pointed out that it’s not “the blues” but different shades of blue and the meanings each shade takes on. These different shades pop up on the record and in the lyrics, ranging from true blue to violet. I think of burning flames as colors, too. It was a nice motif to thread throughout the bio, but the title of the record was completely separate. I don’t think about overarching themes when I’m creating something.
GK: Your second single, “In a Dream,” explores who gets to have and live out dreams in the current social and political context. On an album that mostly deals with your personal life, why did you feel it was important to introduce the rollout with something so universal?
DB: I didn’t want the album to be entirely about this difficult part of my life. A lot of the songs came out of my breakup and the period of uncoupling, but I didn’t want to center the whole record around that. I wanted it to have a wider scope.
Some of my music has been politically focused, and I enjoy writing about how it feels to live in the world. My albums are usually about my experiences, and I have trouble writing outside of that, but it was fun to figure out how that sits in a larger context. I’m a very political person, but I’m also very private. I like to find ways of incorporating thoughts about the world that are more feelings-based, so it’s not too on the nose.
GK: I can’t imagine your listeners share politics that are too different from your own, so it’s nice to provide a place for everyone to commiserate.
DB: Exactly, that’s the goal.
GK: Tell me about the track order. What was the thought process behind that, and did you imagine a story arc?
DB: I was focused on opening with “In a Dream.” That was always our opening track. I spent a long time working on that song to ensure it was up to my opening track standards. After that, it was more about pacing the feel of the songs and the energy moving forward. I wanted it to feel upbeat. I put some faster songs on first, and we unlocked the cadence when we put “Friend” third. I tried to think about how the music moved from one song to another rather than trying to tie the lyrics together.
GK: Your song “Hard to Accept” reflects on the moments when communication in a relationship breaks down. How do you maintain the balance between writing something intimate and cathartic that's still vibrant and danceable?
DB: I like a lot of bummer music. I love Mount Eerie and Songs: Ohia. For a while, I was interested in emulating them. More recently, I’ve wanted my music to sound fun. I don’t want to take my pain so seriously. In the press release, I wrote about wanting to have a “no, I’m good” sort of attitude. I’m trying to laugh and have fun while going through hard times. I lend a lot of this to the record’s producer, Craig Hendrix. I wrote it, sang, and played guitar, but he did the rest. Hats off to him.
GK: There are so many wallowing songs. It’s a nice change of pace.
DB: In the scheme of things, my pain doesn’t matter. I'm a guy living in the United States with a very comfortable life. It’s not something to wallow in.
GK: You recently played with your old band LVL UP for the first time in six years. What was that like?
DB: It was awesome to get together with the guys. It was very healing for us. I hope I can do more with them again.
GK: How did the decision to reunite align with the process of writing and recording your latest album?
DB: I was already recording this album, and then Mike [Caridi] texted our band thread and said it’s almost the 10-year anniversary of Hoodwinked. He wanted to do a repress because he runs the label that put out the album, and it evolved from there. I mentioned I have an album coming out soon and would want to do it before I have to do stuff for that.
GK: People love a reunion show.
DB: I had so much fun. There was this one guitar part I was playing, and I remember thinking, “Why the fuck did I write that?” Every time I played it, I thought it was so dumb.
GK: The music video for “Friend” features you in this surrealist werewolf costume singing about addressing your own loneliness. How did you land on this imagery?
DB: My partner, Sam, and I were on the phone, workshopping ideas for the video. We played with the idea of hands – disembodied hands, interacting with hands. At one point, she said, “Hear me out. What if you were a werewolf?” I wasn’t super sure at first, but then we talked about it more. I liked the idea of turning me into something unloveable creature.
GK: What did you watch, read, and listen to while writing Into the Burning Blue?
DB: I watched David Lynch’s Blue Velvet for the first time, which was a huge inspiration for the record. I also watched a lot of Survivor. I love Survivor. I was reading a lot of Stephen King, too. I had my first Madonna phase.