Skullcrusher - "Places/Plans"

Photo by Silken Weinberg

Skullcrusher is the musical project of Los Angeles based artist Helen Ballentine. If her new song "Places/Plans" is any indication, Skullcrusher will quickly become a favorite here. Despite being mostly Ballentine's voice and a soft guitar, "Places/Plans" isn't quite folk, but maybe folk adjacent. It's a layered in a way to truly be mesmerizing. It's a hypnotizing song about isolation that was written a year ago but seems to have been made for right now. 

Ballentine says of the song: “I thought a lot about my self-worth during this period of uncertainty. ‘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.”

You can watch the video for "Places/Plans" below. Skullcrusher's self-titled debut EP will be out June 26 on Secretly Canadian. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Skullcrusher, check out the artist's Bandcamp and Instagram pages.