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.
NEWS
SZA will be joining Kendrick Lamar for his upcoming Super Bowl Halftime show performance – find out more below.
In September, the NFL, Apple Music and Kendrick Lamar confirmed that the ‘Not Like Us’ rapper wold be headlining the Super Bow LIX Halftime Show in New Orleans on February 9.
Kendrick said in a trailer at the time: “What you doing everybody? My name’s Kendrick Lamar, and I’ll be performing at Super Bowl LIX. Will you be pulling up? I hope so! You know there’s only one opportunity to win the championship, no round twos. Let’s get it!”
“I don’t want you to miss it. Meet me in New Orleans, February 9, 2025. Wear your best dress too, even if you’re watching from home. Let’s go.”
Now, Kendrick Lamar has revealed on of his set’s special guest performers. In a new ad to promote the performance for Apple Music, Kendrick is seen standing in a feel as people march around in the distance. Kendrick says while speaking on the phone: “You know this field a lot bigger than people think so that’s a must. Exactly. Nah, I been thinking about a guest performer.”
SZA then sneaks up behind him to douse him in blue Gatorade, a staple celebration seen during sporting events.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA have collaborated numerous times in the past, most recently linking up on his surprise album ‘GNX’ in November. She features on the song ‘Luther’.
Since then, the pair have announced a joint ‘Grand National’ North American stadium tour. The 19-date tour will commence at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on April 19. From there, the two musicians will make their way across the US with stops in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, East Rutherford, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit and Toronto, before wrapping up on June 18 at the Northwest Stadium in Washington D.C. – visit here to purchase tickets.
In a glowing five-star review of the LP, NME‘s Kyann-Sian Williams wrote: “Lamar channels what could be interpreted as hate and negativity into a teachable moment, leading you to draw upon the purest emotion known to man: love. In a year that started with so much venom, Kendrick Lamar shares the antidote on ‘GNX’.”
The rapper’s track ‘Not Like Us’ landed the coveted second spot on NME‘s 50 Best Songs Of 2024 list, writing that the single “packaged intelligent, intensely researched character assassinations into a fierce, booming DJ Mustard-produced club hit. Though his savage, accusatory wordplay grabbed the headlines, it was Lamar’s dissection of Drake as “coloniser” that truly underlined his pure vitriol.”
