For some people, I’m sure it doesn’t feel like 10 years since dropped Hoodwink’d—though if you’ve kept up with Dave Benton’s consistent solo output as Trace Mountains, the music he was creating with LVL UP in the mid-2010s feels like it was written a lifetime ago. With his 2018 debut leaning much further into slacker-folk sounds, and a full-on Americana phase to follow, the upbeat pre-album singles from the forthcoming Into the Burning Blue sound like a full-on reinvention for Benton as an artist. The record’s latest single “Hard to Accept” further positions the album as something of an alternative history for the songwriter, with the track’s heartland glow and new-wave-y feel aligning it with what The War on Drugs and Future Islands, respectively, were getting up to while LVL UP was in their own world.
Working with Japanese Breakfast producer Craig Hendrix, Benton was able to strike a unique balance on the track both in terms of genre and emotion. “In our first recording session together, munching on dried mango and blueberries, Craig and I breathed new life into ‘Hard to Accept’ with a vibrant, danceable quality while being careful to maintain its emotionality,” he recalls of the single which, like the rest of the LP, documents the aftermath of a nearly decade-long relationship. “He really took his time with my vocal, capturing breath and air in the recording that made the performance sound more intimate. I think we were able to strike a balance between the heavy feelings and a more upbeat, cathartic vibe—combining tears, laughter, and a sort of defiant, night-drive-blasting-music, ‘No, really...I’m good’ attitude.”
The track arrives with an impressionistic video directed by Alyx and Sam Soard which—among other, much less explicable things—reminds us fall is right around the corner. Check it out below, and pre-order Into the Burning Blue here.
