Trace Mountains, the recording project of Dave Benton, returns today with the shimmering new single, “The Line.” Produced by and featuring Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy on guitar, bass, and vocals, the track blends honeyed tones with a subtle emotional ache. Written alongside the material from last fall’s Into the Burning Blue and recorded in late 2024 and early 2025, “The Line” is a bright yet bittersweet meditation on distance and longing.
“‘The Line’ is a song about the distance between two people—how sometimes that distance isn’t measured in miles, but in memories, in mistakes,” Benton shares. “There’s a restless heart in it, one that keeps moving just to outrun the ache. And underneath all the motion, there’s a deep, stubborn kind of longing—the kind that makes you draw a line in the sand just so you won’t cross it again, even if you already know you will.”
Released today via Lame-O Records, the single is accompanied by a visually striking video directed by Alyx Soard, filmed against the ethereal landscape of White Sands, New Mexico. The video and track together highlight Benton’s gift for balancing introspective themes with warm, inviting soundscapes.
Trace Mountains will celebrate the release with a headline show at Nightclub 101 in New York City on May 27th, before heading to the UK for more headline dates and select shows supporting MJ Lenderman.
Benton’s last album, Into the Burning Blue—produced by Craig Hendrix of Japanese Breakfast—chronicled the end of an 8-year relationship and the difficult, luminous path forward. Like that album, “The Line” finds its power in capturing heartache, joy, and growth in equal measure.
