36-652: Helen Ballentine , known professionally as Skullcrusher , is an American indie folk singer-songwriter and musician. Ballentine was born and raised in Westchester County, New York , Ballentine attended the Hackley School , graduating in 2013. Ballantine moved to Los Angeles to attend college, graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in graphic design in 2017. Having played piano for most of her life, Ballentine decided to quit her job working at
72-780: A 7-inch single consisting of the songs "Funeral Pyre" (previously called "Sad Song 11") and "Distant Solar Systems." Her second album, Turn Out the Lights , was recorded with engineer and producer Calvin Lauber at Ardent Studios in Memphis, and released on October 27, 2017, to further acclaim. She spent the following year touring across the U.S. and internationally, performing alongside artists including The National , Father John Misty , Half Waif , Adam Torres , and Lucy Dacus , and appearing on CBS This Morning and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . Baker has opened for or collaborated with
108-419: A Christian socialist , but has spoken on how being constantly labeled the "sober queer Christian" early in her career was damaging to her understanding of her identity, and led to her questioning and reevaluating many foundational aspects of her life. She has since discussed the ever-changing nature of her relationship to faith, saying she is no longer interested in labeling her beliefs so rigidly and that she
144-560: A loop pedal . 2017's Turn Out the Lights saw the addition of occasional violin, as well as organs and "cavernous-sounding production." Her performances from this period have been called "hushed, reverential events," with the audience often remaining quiet and emotional. Baker experimented with a more full-band sound for her 2021 release Little Oblivions , and has commented on feeling limited by expectations to adhere to her established style. The album newly featured drums, bass, keyboards, mandolin , and banjo , all played by Baker on
180-682: A B-Side EP to Little Oblivions and shared the single "Guthrie". In March 2023, Boygenius released their debut studio album, The Record , to universal acclaim. The band played Coachella 2023 in April. They then embarked on the Re:SET Concert Series and joined member Phoebe Bridgers for some opening sets on Taylor Swift 's The Eras Tour . In June 2023, the band performed in drag in Baker's home state of Tennessee in protest of anti-drag legislation that state governor Bill Lee signed into law that
216-554: A Laurel Canyon lagoon", commenting that the band's name suggests something altogether more violent. Alex Robert Ross from The Fader described Ballentines sound as "It’s a deft record, tranquil on its surface but torrid underneath, its loosely strummed acoustic guitars and vaporous melodies rooted to the ground by probing lyrics." Independent music website Pitchfork rated the EP a score of 7.1 upon its release saying "the acoustic confessionalism of her debut EP Skullcrusher isn't terribly original, it
252-424: A gallery to pursue music full time. In 2019, Ballentine wrote her first song, "Places/Plans," which was later released on 21 April 2020. Upon the release of the single, Ballentine announced her debut self-titled EP, released on 24 July 2020 via Secretly Canadian . The EP and subsequent releases feature production contributions from Los Angeles musician Noah Weinman, known professionally as Runnner . A second song from
288-480: A member of Boygenius . Born and raised in suburban Memphis, Tennessee , Baker released her debut album Sprained Ankle (2015) while she was a student at Middle Tennessee State University . The album received critical acclaim and appeared on several 2015 year-end lists. Baker subsequently signed to Matador Records and released her second studio album Turn Out the Lights in 2017, to further critical success. Her third album, Little Oblivions (2021), embraced
324-647: A more full-band sound and became Baker's first top 40 album on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her solo work, Baker is a member of the indie supergroup Boygenius, alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus . The group's debut eponymous EP was released in October 2018. Boygenius announced their reunion in January 2023, and their debut studio album The Record was released in March. Their newest release, titled The Rest ,
360-546: A poem from Abdurraqib's "How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This" poems. In 2018, Baker formed the rock supergroup Boygenius with fellow indie singer-songwriters Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus , both of whom she had toured with previously. The group released three songs in August of that year and subsequently announced an eponymous EP, Boygenius , which was released on October 26, 2018, to widespread critical acclaim. The band spent that November touring
396-448: A project called "Put a Little Sugar In The Tank" on their social media. Baker is known for her personal, confessional songwriting, and her music has been categorized as a mix of indie rock , indie folk , alternative , and emo . The sparse arrangements on her "fragile, gentle" 2015 debut, Sprained Ankle , feature only her voice, guitar, and occasional piano, and her stage performances for many years consisted of her alone, utilizing
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#1732902327151432-507: A wide range of artists, including Death Cab for Cutie , Conor Oberst , Paramore and Hayley Williams , The National , The Decemberists , Belle & Sebastian , Frightened Rabbit , The Front Bottoms , Touche Amore , Manchester Orchestra , and Bright Eyes . During Eaux Claire in July 2018, she performed with a poet Hanif Abdurraqib , mixing "Claws in Your Back" from Turn Out the Lights with
468-657: A young teen, but found support in the community surrounding house shows in Memphis, and became inspired by the straight edge punk subculture. While in high school in 2010, Baker co-founded the band the Star Killers, who renamed themselves Forrister in 2015. Baker attended Arlington High School and then Middle Tennessee State University , where she had a campus job in the A/V department and initially studied audio engineering, before switching to literature and secondary education. She eventually left school to tour full-time after
504-544: Is infused with religious themes, and it often is noted for its occasionally violent imagery. Hope, redemption, love, addiction, shame, self-loathing, and direct appeals to God are all prominent motifs throughout her work. Her music often features frank explorations of addiction and sobriety, and she has been open in discussing her experiences with substance abuse and mental illness. Poet Hanif Abdurraqib delineated Baker’s body of work as follows: The grand project of Julien Baker, as I have always projected it onto myself,
540-599: Is nonetheless lovely, captivating, and quietly devastating." Indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk ) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music . Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its earliest origins in 1990s folk artists who displayed alternative rock influences in their music, such as Ani DiFranco and Dan Bern , and acoustic artists such as Elliott Smith and Will Oldham . In
576-421: Is the central question of what someone does with the many calamities of a life they didn’t ask for, but want to make the most out of. I have long been done with the idea of hope in such a brutal and unforgiving world, but I’d like to think that this music drags me closer to the old idea I once clung to. But these are songs of survival, and songs of reimagining a better self, and what is that if not hope? Hope that on
612-496: The 66th Annual Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year , ultimately winning three, including Best Alternative Music Album . As of the 1st of February 2024, Boygenius is on hiatus, describing the situation as 'going away for the foreseeable future'. In October 2023, Baker released the track "Thick Skull" (Re: Julien Baker) on Re: This Is Why , a remixed version of Paramore 's This Is Why . Baker composed
648-624: The Basement". She also collaborated with several artists in 2024, appearing on tracks by The Naked and Famous member Thomas Powers, Touché Amoré , and Medium Build . After dueting a couple of songs together at Baker's 2024 New York shows, she and musician Torres were announced as a joint act on the lineup of several festivals for 2025, including Big Ears in Knoxville, Tennessee and High Water Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina , teasing
684-533: The EP would be heard by a wide audience; she put it on Bandcamp so that her friends could hear it. It was picked up by 6131 Records, who released the album Sprained Ankle in October 2015. Sprained Ankle ended up topping many 2015 year-end lists, and its success led to features in The New Yorker and The New York Times , with various critics calling it "heartbreaking," "hypnotic," and "striking." In March 2016, Baker gave an NPR Tiny Desk performance,
720-518: The EP, "Day of Show," was released on 27 May 2020. On 19 October 2020, Ballentine released a pair of singles entitled "Farm b/w Lift"; "Farm" is an original Skullcrusher song, while "Lift" is a cover of an outtake from Radiohead 's album, OK Computer . For these singles, Ballentine used nostalgic samples from her childhood growing up on the East Coast of the United States, including crickets, cicadas,
756-491: The Road touring festivals. The success of acts like Mumford & Sons led some music journalists like Popjustice's Peter Robinson labelling this new British music scene as The New Boring or Beige Pop. A decade later, the terms "stomp and holler", "stomp clap hey", and "hoedown pop" were coined to refer retrospectively to such bands. In the late 2010s, artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker revived interest in
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#1732902327151792-639: The U.S., and performed "Me & My Dog" on Late Night with Seth Meyers . The trio has continued to collaborate on each other's solo work since the release of their EP, lending backing vocals to two songs from Bridgers' Grammy -nominated Punisher (2020), "Please Stay" from Dacus' Home Video (2021), and "Favor" from Baker's Little Oblivions (2021), as well as Hayley Williams ' Petals for Armor (2020) single "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris." In 2019, Baker put out two 7-inch singles . The first, released in June, featured songs "Red Door" and "Conversation Piece," and
828-659: The beach in Connecticut, and the creaking of old homes. "Farm" was recorded around the Woodstock area of upstate New York. Ballentine released "Song for Nick Drake" on February 1, 2021. Her debut album, Quiet the Room , was released on October 14, 2022. Mark Beaumont in The Guardian described Skullcrusher's sound as "Gorgeously gauzy alt-folk paeans haunted by the pale ghosts of pianos and acoustic guitars that drowned many years ago in
864-464: The circumstances of a life that might reveal some brilliance if any of us just stick around long enough. Baker is a lesbian , and her fraught experiences with organized Christianity inform much of her work. She came out to her parents at age 17, after years of being closeted and watching friends get sent to conversion therapy or kicked out of their homes. However, she found her family was "radically accepting." She previously referred to herself as
900-451: The first of an eventual four appearances at the desk. She also played at that year's South by Southwest and Newport Folk festivals. Her performances from this period have been called "hushed, reverential events," with the audience often remaining quiet and emotional. In October 2016, she contributed to Say Yes! A Tribute to Elliott Smith , covering "Ballad of Big Nothing". In 2017, she signed to Matador Records , and released
936-469: The following decade, labels such as Saddle Creek , Barsuk , Ramseur, and Sub Pop helped to provide support to indie folk, with artists such as Fleet Foxes breaking into the pop charts with albums such as Helplessness Blues . In the United Kingdom , artists such as Ben Howard and Mumford & Sons emerged, with the latter band promoting the music style through their Gentlemen of
972-467: The genre. Bridgers cites Elliott Smith as a foundational influence on her sound. Julien Baker Julien Rose Baker (born September 29, 1995) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her music is noted for its moody quality and confessional lyrical style, as well as frank explorations of topics including Christianity , addiction , mental illness , and human nature . She has received six Grammy Award nominations and three wins as
1008-551: The lead single "Faith Healer" and an essay by poet Hanif Abdurraqib . Little Oblivions was released February 26, 2021, and was preceded by additional singles "Hardline" and "Favor." It was written mostly over the course of 2019, a difficult and formative year for Baker as she had to cancel various tour dates, struggled with her sobriety and mental health, and eventually returned to school to finish her degree at MTSU. In January, she appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , performing "Faith Healer." In 2022, Baker released
1044-743: The opening theme to the television series Orphan Black: Echoes , which first premiered in November 2023. In 2024, Baker performed at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra as part of the Declassified series. She embarked on a fall tour later that year, including headlining the inaugural New York edition of the All Things Go Music Festival . On tour she debuted the new songs "Middle Children" and "High in
1080-508: The other side of our wreckage — self-fashioned or otherwise — there might be a door. And through the opening of that door, a tree spilling its shade over something we love. A bench and upon it, a jacket that once belonged to someone we’d buried. Birds who ask us to be an audience to their singing. A small and generous corner of the earth that has not yet burned down or disappeared. I can be convinced of this kind of hope, even as I fight against it. To hear someone wrestling with and still thankful for
1116-491: The recording. On tour following its release, she played with a full band and debuted new, multi-instrument arrangements of her previous work, describing the band's sound as " post-rock ." "Baker's gentle touch [...] evok[es] an entire world — of suffering and healing, eagerness and fear, loneliness and companionship, distance and intimacy — in its search for a more human truth." — Marissa Lorusso, "The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women", NPR Baker's writing
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1152-457: The release of Sprained Ankle , but returned to campus in the fall of 2019 to complete her degree in literature. During her first year at MTSU , Baker began writing songs on her own, often utilizing the university practice rooms that stayed open late at night. She wrote what would become Sprained Ankle in her dorm room and recorded it on free studio time that a friend of hers had gotten from an internship. She has said that she never thought
1188-494: The second in October featured "Tokyo" and "Sucker Punch" as part of the Sub Pop singles series. All four songs had a slightly more produced sound than her previous work and were received very positively. She also contributed to Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit's 'The Midnight Organ Fight' , covering "The Modern Leper". On October 21, 2020, Baker announced her third studio album, Little Oblivions , accompanied by
1224-477: Was blocked in federal court. After a North America leg, they toured Europe, before returning to the USA for the second half of the tour. In October 2023, the band released a second EP, The Rest . During the second leg of their The Record tour they debuted the songs night by night. Baker features most prominently on the last song of the collection, "Powers." The band's album, The Record received six nominations at
1260-575: Was in elementary school. Baker grew up in a devout Baptist family, and her early exposure to music involved playing at her church. After seeing Green Day on television, she was inspired to explore more alternative music and started listening to bands like My Chemical Romance and Death Cab for Cutie . She subsequently became captivated by the punk , hardcore , metalcore , and screamo scenes, and has said some of her favorite bands were mewithoutYou , Underoath , The Chariot , Norma Jean , and Whitechapel . She struggled with substance abuse as
1296-535: Was released in October 2023. Baker was born on September 29, 1995, in Germantown , and raised in Bartlett, Tennessee , a city near Memphis . Her parents both worked in the field of physical therapy . She has spoken of being inspired by her father who, after an accident in his twenties resulting in the amputation of his leg, dedicated his life to making experimental prosthetic limbs . Baker's parents separated while she
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