Skullcrusher And Your Song Is Like A Circle
Released Oct 17, 2025 Dirty Hit
Established consensus 5 professional reviews Updated Oct 1, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Skullcrusher's And Your Song Is Like A Circle unfolds as a haunted, intimate arc that asks whether memory and identity can be held together long enough to mean something.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
March
5 critic mentions
“What do I live for? / Who do I live for? / I don’t know anymore,” Ballentine whispers over soft piano on opener “March” — The Line of Best Fit
Red Car
2 critic mentions
“Red Car glints with gentle guitars, despite the glaring hues and vivid images.” — The Skinny
Exhale
4 critic mentions
“The giddy "Exhale" may be the best exception, serving as something akin to a radio single” — AllMusic
Full critic consensus
Skullcrusher's And Your Song Is Like A Circle unfolds as a haunted, intimate arc that asks whether memory and identity can be held together long enough to mean something. Across professional reviews, critics praise the album's ethereal textures, home-recorded intimacy and experimental touches while weighing its drifting structure against moments of clarity; the consensus score sits at 75.4/100 across 5 reviews, suggesting a generally favorable critical reception.
Reviewers consistently point to a handful of standout tracks as the clearest entry points. “March” is repeatedly named for its stark, a cappella gravity and the way it sets the album's intimate tone. “Exhale” and “March” register as high points for their emotional payoff, while “Vessel” and “Living” are praised for lifting Ballentine's quiet lyricism with defiant arpeggios and searching tenderness. Critics note recurring themes of grief, dissociation, longing and solitude, and highlight the record's experiments with contact-mic vocals, field recordings and synth washes that push Skullcrusher's atmospheric alt-folk into otherworldly territory.
Not all reviewers agree on pacing and cohesion: some celebrate the album as a unified, immersive work where sparse moments become revelatory, while others find passages slow or too hazy to cohere consistently. Even so, professional reviews converge on the idea that the best songs on And Your Song Is Like A Circle reward repeated listening and that Ballentine's fragile voice anchored by inventive production makes the record worth engaging. For those searching for an elegiac, experimentally textured follow-up in Skullcrusher's catalog, the album offers clear highlights and a mood that lingers long after the final note.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
March
Dragon
Living
Maelstrom
Changes
Periphery
Red Car
Exhale
Vessel
The Emptying
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher’s And Your Song Is Like A Circle is a devastating rumination that makes its best songs quietly unforgettable. The review singles out “March” for its rolling waves that crash at the close and “Changes” for its ethereal, finger-plucked delicacy, marking them as the album’s clearest highlights. Ballantine’s lyrics and vocals, at once gorgeous and shadowed by darkness, make tracks like “March” and “Changes” the best tracks on And Your Song Is Like A Circle, songs that haunt long after the record ends. The record’s sparse yet rich sonics reward repeated listening, so queries for the best songs on this album should begin with those two luminous moments.
Key Points
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The best song is “March” because its closing waves and emotional weight mark it as the record’s haunting apex.
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The album’s core strengths are sparse but rich sonics, evocative lyrics, and a consistent mood of grief and searching.
Themes
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher's And Your Song Is Like a Circle presents its best tracks as quiet excavations of self, where “Red Car”, “Dragon” and “Vessel” stand out. Pepin's voice is observant and exacting, noting how “Red Car” glints with gentle guitars even as memory distorts, and how “Dragon” blurs harmonies with clashing drums. The reviewer privileges atmosphere and vocal daring, arguing these songs best reveal the album's grappling with dissociation and grief. This is a record whose top songs reward close listening, rewarding those seeking the best tracks on And Your Song Is Like a Circle with haunting, resonant moments.
Key Points
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Red Car is the best song for its gentle guitars and vivid, glinting imagery.
Themes
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher returns with And Your Song Is Like A Circle, where the best songs - notably “Living” and “Vessel” - crystallize Ballentine's haunted, introspective strengths. The reviewer lingers on “Living” as a sweet, searching bildungsroman that nurses the quotidian into something worth examining, and praises “Vessel” for its defiant, upward-soaring arpeggios as a triumphant volta. Lesser moments like “Changes” are called slow to the point of frustration, but the album's move into synths and distorted vocals gives several tracks an expanded emotional reach. Overall, the best tracks on And Your Song Is Like A Circle are those that pair Ballentine's sparse instinct with bolder instrumentation, producing the album's most affecting moments.
Key Points
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The best song is "Vessel" because it climaxes emotionally with defiant, upward-soaring arpeggios and lyrical acceptance.
Themes
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher’s And Your Song Is Like A Circle is a record of evaporating memories, and its best songs are the moments that briefly cohere before vanishing. The reviewer repeatedly singles out “Changes” for its drone ambitions and “March” for setting the intimate tone, while tracks like “Maelstrom” and “Exhale” are praised for their clashing voices and hazes of synth. Ballentine’s voice remains at the emotional centre, making these subdued peaks the clearest answers to questions about the best tracks on And Your Song Is Like A Circle. The album is compelling and mesmerizing, even when its drifting nature makes footholds scarce.
Key Points
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“Changes” is the album’s best moment because it briefly attempts to lift off with drone and synth power while remaining hauntingly fragile.
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The album’s core strengths are Ballentine’s intimate voice, evocative atmospheres, and the tension between human vulnerability and electronic texture.
Themes
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher extends the floaty, untethered atmosphere of her debut on And Your Song Is Like A Circle, moving through isolation-wrought vignettes with haunting production and intimate recording techniques. The review privileges the album as a unified work rather than a song-by-song showcase, yet points to the giddy “Exhale” and the spiritually a cappella “March” as clearest high points. Ballentine's experiments with contact-mic vocals, field recordings, and washes of drone make tracks like “Maelstrom” and “Dragon” land with particular textural weight. Ultimately the strength of the record lies in its cohesive mood and moments of clarity that cut through the haze.
Key Points
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The best song is “Exhale” for its rare, catchy buoyancy within an otherwise atmospheric record.
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The album's core strength is its cohesive, otherworldly atmosphere built from home recordings, contact-mic vocals, and layered textures.
Themes
Ho
Critic's Take
Skullcrusher's And Your Song Is Like A Circle feels like a haunted, elegiac arc, with the best songs - notably “Living” and “Exhale” - unfolding with crystalline clarity. Caroline Kelly's prose lingers on how “Living” and “Exhale” capture moments of grief and longing, while “Maelstrom” and “Changes” provide shimmering, atmospheric counterpoints. The record's strength is its patient production and fragile vocal filigrees that make the best tracks feel both intimate and otherworldly.
Key Points
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The best song(s) like "Living" stand out for their crystalline clarity and emotional resonance.
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The album's core strengths are fragile vocal production, patient soundscapes, and an elegiac exploration of memory and loss.