Skullcrusher Signs to Secretly Canadian, Shares New Single “Places/Plans”

LA-based singer/songwriter Helen Ballentine—who records delicate folk tunes under the moniker Skullcrusher—is the newest signee to Secretly Canadian. Her debut self-titled EP will hit shelves on June 26. Skullcrusher shares the first single from the EP, “Places/Plans,” along with a hazy music video that will have you seeing in threes.

While Ballentine has played music for most of her life, the first Skullcrusher song was written only a little over a year ago. Ballentine moved to LA from her home in upstate New York in order to study studio art as an undergraduate, but quickly found that songwriting was where her heart was. While nannying on the side in order to make ends meet, Ballentine wrote “Places/Plans,” and thus the first Skullcrusher song came to life.

“I thought a lot about my self-worth during this period of uncertainty,” Ballentine says. “‘Places/Plans’ attempts to communicate the beauty and vulnerability of being alone and what it means to let someone else in to see that. It feels like the thematic core of the EP. It is a song for being alone in your room, lying on the floor with a book and the window open, but also for letting someone in to lie with you.”

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.

Watch the music video for “Places/Plans” below. Scroll further to see the album artwork for her Skullcrusher EP.

Skullcrusher Album Artwork: