DEBUT SELF-TITLED EP OUT DIGITALLY TODAY ON SECRETLY CANADIAN; OUT PHYSICALLY ON OCTOBER 23RD
Skullcrusher, the project of LA-based songwriter Helen Ballentine, releases a new single/video, “Trace.” The track is off of her self-titled debut EP, out digitally today on Secretly Canadian. 12” physical copies of the EP will be available on October 23rd. Following “Day of Show” and lead single “Places/Plans,” “Trace” is energetic, and in Ballentine’s words, “a really cathartic song that I love playing live because I can really rock out to it.” Despite more somber lyrics, Ballentine sounds fresh and reassured. The accompanying video, directed by Silken Weinberg and Jeremy Reynoso, reflects the song’s cleansing energy. Ballentine and friends, dressed in medieval costumes, have a fireside celebration.
“I wrote ‘Trace’ about my last relationship. It represents the darkness of that relationship but also feels like a celebration of all the positive changes that followed. It was also one of my favorite songs to make. I recorded it with my current partner Noah and it was the last song we did for the EP. We finished it in one day at my home studio. We didn’t have any idea how it would turn out when we started, we just kind of improvised all the parts and ultimately kept most of what we recorded. It was a really special day for me because I had just finished my first project and come so far from the period of my life ‘Trace is written about.”
WATCH SKULLCRUSHER’S VIDEO FOR “TRACE”
Ballentine has been playing music for most of her life — piano from age five, guitar since high school — but her songwriting didn’t emerge until later. After moving from her home in upstate New York to Los Angeles to study studio art in college, a trajectory she had been on since she was a teenager, Ballentine quit her full-time gallery job. Suddenly faced with a peculiar freedom, she decided to seriously pursue music for the first time.
On the “Skullcrusher” EP, Ballentine offers an airy, intense, and unflinchingly open collection of songs written about – and from – one of life’s in-between gray areas and the subsequent search for identity. The four dark, dreamy songs on the EP, which she worked on alongside producer Noah Weinman, were influenced by a strange-but-fitting amalgamation of media consumed in the immediate aftermath of quitting her 9-5. There’s Nick Drake, ambient electronica, and Valerie and her Week of Wonders, the Czech new-wave film that went on to inform Skullcrusher’s aesthetic. There’s Ballentine’s love of fantasy and surrealism, her appreciation of the way fantasy novels juxtapose beauty and violence (perhaps a nod to her unusual moniker, as well).
PRAISE FOR “DAY OF SHOW”
“Skullcrusher is the project of LA-based singer-songwriter Helen Ballentine, who uses that extremely metal moniker to record delicate, lovely guitar music. We’ve already heard one song from her upcoming self-titled debut EP, ‘Places/Plans,’ and now she’s shared another, “Day Of Show,” which adds washes of ambient synth to the hazy mix.”
– Stereogum
“The song is serene and beautiful, following in the steps of her previous single, ‘Places/Plans.’ The album is sure to have more soft, enchanting, shoegaze-meets-folk tunes.” – Paste
“Despite Skullcrusher’s name, both of the singles have been soft, acoustic songs with reflective lyrics.” – Under The Radar
PRAISE FOR “PLACES/PLANS”
“Like fellow folk singers Phoebe Bridgers or Julie Byrne, Ballantine wrings poignancy out of simple moments.” – Pitchfork
“Ballentine writes exploratory acoustic songs, their tape deck imperfections intact, and weaves through them with ghostly but inviting melodies.” – The FADER
“If you’re at the quiet reflection point in your quarantine, this is for you.”
– Refinery29
“I like the way the soft guitar chords and gleaming vocal harmonies are eventually swallowed up by ambient beauty, as if Ballentine is converting her heaviest emotions into celestial light.” – Stereogum
“The music video for ‘Places/Plans’ was directed by Ballentine herself, with the song’s lyrics overlaying the quaint imagery of Ballentine performing solitary activities and routines, emblematic of Skullcrusher’s intimate, introspective sound.” – Paste
Skullcrusher Online:
https://pitchperfectpr.com/skull-crusher/
https://imskullcrusher.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.instagram.com/skullcrusher.online/
