Last year, the absurdly busy Dave Benton (Double Double Whammy, LVL UP, Spook Houses) quietly released the three-track EP Salty Sweet w/ Everything Around Me under the name Trace Mountains. It seems like Trace Mountains is becoming a more serious project, thanks in part to the addition of a live band (composed of Liz Pelly and Jim Hill) and a new album. Three of the tracks (“salt/sweet”, “everything around me” and “i am extra-natural”) on Buttery Sprouts were previously released on the aforementioned EP. “halo (bey)” is obviously a Yonce cover, from 2013’s Birdtapes’ Top 40 Compilation.
Buttery Sprouts proves that Benton has concocted the recipe for the perfect little ditty: self-awareness, a sense of humor, and as DDW responded to an anonymous tumblr user the other day, “that perfect combination of personality, talent, ambition, & purity of heart”. Benton’s voice warbles and cracks as he describes a variety of images with a wistful intimacy. Few others could make lyrics like “Leaky nose and swingy hips / Heavy breathing gives me chapped lips” sound so complicated and heartbreaking.
Buttery Sprouts is out now on bandcamp, you can stream the full album below.
