Helen Ballentine, who releases music as Skullcrusher, dropped her last EP Storm in Summer in April of last year. Today, she's not only returned with new music but also the news of her forthcoming debut full-length Quiet the Room that's out October 14 via Secretly Canadian. The lead single is titled "Whatever Fits Together" and it comes with an eerie black-and-white music video by Silken Weinberg and Angela Ricciardi.
The skeleton of "Whatever Fits Together" is made from bouncy percussion, winding banjo, and propulsive acoustic guitar. Ballentine's vocals are gossamer threads that braid together memories and restless questions. An emotional embrace from her brother is followed by nagging pains: "What do I want? Do I want anything?" Skullcrusher carves out her own enchanting sonic space alongside Grouper and Cocteau Twins, leaving us with a delicate and complicated lace from her mind's phantasmic circuitry.
“I wrote 'Whatever Fits Together' while reflecting on my past and wondering how I might begin to explain it to someone," Ballentine said. "I viewed my younger self through a wash of emotions: anger, sadness, pity, confusion, all reaching for a kind of compassion. I tried to capture the contradictions that comprise my past and define who I am now. As I looked back, I saw my life in pieces: some moments blacked out, some extremely vivid, some leading nowhere. Through the song I attempt to piece it together in some non-linear form and accept my disparate story.”
Creative director Silken Weinberg gives some insight to the spooky accompanying visual: “[It's] a nightmare of phantasmagoria, taking inspiration from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and one of my favorite silent films, Shoes. We felt this song needed a darker atmosphere in order to shed light on its essential message: to address the monsters that exist in the shadows.”
Watch the visual for "Whatever Fits Together" below, and pre-order Quiet the Room here.
