New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist
Christopher Mansfield, who records under the Fences moniker, has released his first book of poetry, titled "The Horses In Montana."
"The Horses in Montana" is a collection of short narratives about
Christopher Mansfield and the experiences that shaped him into the artist he is today. Written in a stern, poetic voice, "The Horses in Montana" can be read in one sitting, and revisited for deeper meanings over time.
Fences' latest album 'Bright Soil' was released in
September via Enci Records.
Stream the new album 'Bright Soil' on DSPs: https://onerpm.link/BrightSoil
'Bright Soil' spotlights not only a time of monumental changes in Mansfield's life, but is perhaps his most cohesive album to date.
For the LP as a whole Mansfield assembled what he refers to as his "dream band" with lifelong friend Felix Pastorius (son of Jaco Pastorius) on bass and Jeremiah Green (Modest Mouse) on drums, drums.
Wesley Schultz and Ryan Lewis (Macklemore & Lewis) also add vocals and production respectively. Mansfield's wife, Maxine, also appears.
'Bright Soil' arrives concurrently with the debut of a stunning new music video for the track "Werewolf Palm," directed by
Hanna Gray Hall (Spanish Love Songs, Starbenders).
Mansfield says, "My friend and brilliant actor Chris Bauer said "This looks like a world I couldn't survive in unless I ate the pancakes." I think that's what is stunning about the video. It is a very uncomfortable world. Although I was there and remember them as merely "locations"… they truly weren't. It would take years of convincing to tell me what we shot was only pretend.
Hannah is an absolute genius and the fact the entire thing was HER alone behind a camera is almost shocking. It's my favorite video I've made and I wish I could film it again and again everyday. "
Video Credits:
Film by
Hannah Gray Hall
Written by FENCES and
Hannah Gray Hall
Sound Design by
Jonah Levine
Starring FENCES and
Jonah Levine
Featuring Gatlin and Dara Eckes
When asked about the new album, 'Bright Soil,' Mansfield says, "I just wanted it to sound cohesive. With my previous full-length albums, I'd recorded them in different states with different producers, different drummers, different everything. For this, we had a room for a specific amount of time. That's it. It was like, 'Lock the door and don't kill each other.'"
He adds, "I wanted to get people whose sound I loved so that if I wanted to, I could just leave and I could trust that they'd do their best. Jeremiah has a great natural flow to his playing and Felix is even more technically proficient than his father in some regards. I think he's the best bass player in the world right now." For guitar he turned to
Thomas Hunter of The Heavy. "I wasn't being greedy but wanted to get the best players—it was like picking a soccer team in school. It was a joy."
Mansfield also became a father during the cycle for the album. "As much as you feel like you've geared up for it, no matter how much you've prepared you really have no idea what it's actually like," he says. "I think I was blissfully ignorant of the magnitude before. But there was this beautiful thing about my wife being around and knowing that my daughter could hear the music. All the beautiful things that you would think I would think."
In the past, Fences has collaborated with the likes of Billy Strings, Tegan & Sara, Macklemore, Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla, Jacquire King (Of Monsters and Men), Nile Marr (son of Johnny Marr), Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In) and many more.
What others have said about Fences:
"Hypnotizing and introspective ...emotionally impactful. Both, "Thin Legs" and "
No One" give a fairly substantial look into what the heart of Bright Soil will entail. Fences is definitely one to watch."- Up To Hear Music
"Breezy, rustic, big-hearted indie folk songs that should appeal to fans of Lord Huron, Manchester Orchestra, and other stuff of that ilk." - Brooklynvegan
"a vivid, poetic encounter with a talent operating on his own terms" Clash
"…alongside down-and-out saints with vigour like Townes Van Zandt,
Elliott Smith and The Cure, Mansfield sears vivid scenes rooted in hardship, drinking, despair and fear of losing love into the psyche…..yet at all times he does so with a hand on his pop pistol, ready to blast completely into smithereens what, on paper, would look like just another hushed singer-songwriter on a downer" -Drowned In Sound
"...further testament to
Christopher Mansfield's deeply emotional and expressive song-writing. Writers such as Mansfield remind us that pop can still be spiritual, sublime, its expressive qualities capable of elevating the spirits and challenging our preconceptions about art of any kind."- PopMatters
"As an artist, Mansfield is comfortable in many lanes. He can croon with an acoustic or glide on a house beat or singe on a hip-hop track hook. His talent is malleable..."- American Songwriter
