{"product_id":"656605041032","title":"Skullcrusher - Quiet The Room, Cloudy White","description":"Helen Ballentine's spellbinding first full-length album Quiet the Room\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eis the sound of a window opening, a barrier dissolving. Across these\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003efourteen tracks, the outside world seeps in and the inside world crawls\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eout. The result is a stunning and quietly moving work that reflects the\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ejourneys we take through the physical and spiritual realms of ourselves in\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eorder to show up for the world.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile writing the album in the summer of 2021, Ballentine drew\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003einspiration from her childhood home in Mount Vernon, NY. What she set\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eout to capture on Quiet the Room was not the innocence of childhood,\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eas it is so often portrayed, but the intense complexity of it. Past and\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003epresent merge Escher-like in this dreamlike space laced with elements\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eof fantasy, magic, and mystery. Musically, this translates into a sound that\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003efeels somehow weighty and ephemeral all at once, like a time lapse of\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ecopper corroding.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTo capture the effortless blend of electronic, ambient, folk, and rock,\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBallentine and her partner and collaborator Noah Weinman brought in\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eproducer Andrew Sarlo to record at Chicken Shack studio in Upstate New\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYork, close to where Ballentine grew up. \"We wanted every song to have\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ethat little twinkle, but also a sense of crumbling,\" she says. These songs\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ethrum with moments of anxiety that boil over into moments of peace,\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eas on lead single \"Whatever Fits Together,\" which chugs to a ragged\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003estart before the gears catch and ease. On \"It's Like a Secret,\" Ballentine\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003estruggles to connect and let people in, recognizing that no one can ever\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003efully know our inner worlds and that to understand each other is to cross\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ea barrier and leave a part of ourselves behind. And yet, on closing track\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"You are my House,\" she finds a way to reach out. \"You are the walls and\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003efloors of my room,\" she sings in perfect, hopeful harmony.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs the album cover invites, these are dollhouse songs to which we bend\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ea giant eye, peering into the laminate, luminous world that Ballentine has\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ecreated. Like a kid constructing a shelter in a patch of sharp brambles,\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eshe reminds us that beauty and terror can exist in the same place.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe complexities of childhood are so often overlooked, but through\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ethese private yet generous songs, she gives new weight to our earliest\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ememories, widening the frame for us-even opening a window.","brand":"mysite","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58364372025669,"sku":"SELY4100.1","price":5.4,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1063\/8881\/6197\/files\/skullcrusher-music-vinyl-records-skullcrusher-quiet-the-room-cloudy-white-656605041032-sely4100-1-39954855854332.jpg?v=1782307542","url":"https:\/\/midnightukvinyl.com\/products\/656605041032","provider":"MIDNIGHT GROOVE","version":"1.0","type":"link"}