Skullcrusher, AKA: Helen Balentine is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter. Today, she has released a new single/video, entitled “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.”