Trace Mountains
Dean Engle*When the pandemic arrived just a few months after Dave Benton released his last album as Trace Mountains, the singer-songwriter decided to turn the terrible timing into a creative opportunity.
“It was certainly disappointing to not be able to tour in support of Lost in the Country,” Benton tells Rolling Stone. “But at the same time I love just jumping immediately back into the process of making a record…I feel like I hit a groove with it so much [more easily] because I had no downtime or break from writing songs.”
Over the course of 2020, Benton dove deep into the writing process for House of Confusion, the upcoming third Trace Mountains album, out October 22nd on Lame-O Records. The record, as the former LVL-UP singer-guitarist describes it, is a more questioning, inward-looking collection of songs, compared to the rock & roll optimism of Lost in the Country.
“In hindsight, I really think of that album as my mission statement,” Benton says of his critically acclaimed second album. “House of Confusion feels like it’s taking a harder look at life and getting into the nitty-gritty a little more.”
Case in point: “America,” the album’s disco-rock-inspired lead single, which Benton began writing as he finished up Lost in the Country. “It was just a song about hating my job and my life,” Benton, who was laid off by his day job during the pandemic, says of an early version of the tune.
But as the Kingston, New York-based musician wrote the rest of House of Confusion, “America” eventually came into focus: “I decided I’d stick with this theme about the false American Dream but put it in the context of a road song,” he says. “The idea is that the narrator has this disappointing secret about America that he is reluctant to share with his fellow passengers.”
After beginning with the acoustic meditation “Seen It Coming,” Benton’s new record proceeds with 10 more rootsy pedal steel country-rockers and breezy ballads about the proverbial and literal open road.
“The only way I can describe the feeling is like there’s a storm on the horizon,” Benton says of “Seen It Coming.” “That’s the kind of image that represents the whole album for me: It’s a road album, a journey. There are no answers, only questions.”
House of Confusion, Trace Mountain’s third LP, will be released on October 22nd.
Kylie Kelce has responded to speculation that she may be expecting another child.
The 34-year-old, who is married to NFL player Jason Kelce, addressed the rumours after followers shared comments beneath photos from her recent trip to Paris.
Speaking on an episode of Not Gonna Lie, she said, "You know what's f***ed up? Commenting on women's bodies. That's it, that's the whole thought. But specifically commenting on the possibility of a pregnancy. I don't know how many times we have to go over this."
Kelce explained that several remarks appeared under her Paris pictures and decided to read some of them aloud. "There were a few of these comments left on the photos from my Paris trip, so I guess people need a reminder." She continued, "'Is it the dress? Or is that a little baby bump?' Oh. Nope, don't worry it gets worse. The next comment said, 'I see a baby bump.' That was confident. ... The next one says, 'She's pregnant????'"
The mother of four quickly dismissed the claims. "I have so many kids that over the last week, I have had three different people forget that I had four kids and thought I had three," she shared. "I have so many kids that one's getting forgotten along the way. ... Stop trying to get me to have more. Stop it."
She made it clear that conversations about expanding her family are "between me, my husband and my motherf***ing uterus." Kelce also spoke openly about the lasting changes to her figure, saying, "It's not necessarily going to go back to the way it was. Even more so, I have organs. And they go in there. ... Am I 100 per cent pre-baby body? No, because that's never happening. And that's OK, because I have made four human beings."
Kylie and Jason Kelce share four daughters: Wyatt, 6, Ellie, 5, Bennett, 3, and Finn, 16 months.
