New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Elektra Records) "LESSER OCEANS" is available for pre-sale beginning today, with all orders receiving instant downloads of both "
Arrows" and the album track "Songs About Angels." "
Arrows" - which marks the first new musical offering from
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis since the breakout success of their GRAMMY-award winning album "THE HEIST" - is available now at all DSPs. After making its world premiere on Seattle public radio station KEXP - a longtime supporter of both Fences as well as
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - this morning, "
Arrows" can now be heard streaming on Fences' Official YouTube channel.
On the collaboration with
Macklemore for "Arrows," Fences'
Christopher Mansfield explains: "I have known
Macklemore for quite some time. A friendship grown in the coffee shops and broken sidewalks of Seattle. We became sounding boards for each other's music and when it made sense we would combine our efforts. I consider him to be a fearless poet and a selfless human. 'Arrows' is the peak of our mountain."
Macklemore continues: "Fences is a good friend. He's fucked up in the same way that I'm fucked up. Because of that, our lives relate beyond music. I've always admired his talent for illustrating with words and evoking imagery. We've made a bunch of stuff together over the years and this here song about Arrows is my favorite one we've done."
Fences will perform "
Arrows" alongside
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis at their hugely anticipated main stage appearance at San Francisco's upcoming Outside Lands
Music & Arts Festival, slated for Saturday, August 9th, before joining them for a handful of European music festivals. The Seattle-based tunesmith has a long history with the chart-topping hip-hop duo, including a writing credit on "Ten Thousand Hours," the opening track on 2012's GRAMMY® Award-winning blockbuster, "THE HEIST," and the fan favorite, "Otherside Remix." The latter track has proven a certifiable YouTube phenomenon, racking up more than 37 million individual views and counting at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDQy53eldY.
"LESSER OCEANS" - which follows 2010's "FENCES" - sees Mansfield mastering his distinctive brand of melancholic folk-pop and bittersweet slacker anthems (see below tracklisting). In addition to
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the album also features Fences co-horts
Benjamin Greenspan and Lindsey Starr as well as production from such studio luminaries as Jacquire King (Of Monsters and Men,
Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse) and Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, The Lonely Forest). Fences recently heralded "LESSER OCEANS" with an exclusive NYLON profile highlighted by the world premiere of the album's "Songs About Angels" (www.nylon.com/articles/fences-songs-about-angels); the track's lyric video is also streaming at Fences' official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/fencesmusic.
"Mansfield's songs are powerful, beautifully melodic magnets," says Elektra Records President Jeff Castelaz, "attracting the downtrodden, the disaffected, the depressed. He makes music for people who are looking for their next best friend to be 10 stories that spin in a circle of 12 inch black vinyl. He makes music for people who simply love being fans of music."
Fences first got underway in Boston, a time Mansfield spent studying at Berklee College of
Music while also perfecting his haunting songcraft. He relocated to the Pacific Northwest and in 2008, self-released his first Fences recordings as the now exceedingly rare "ULTIMATE PUKE EP." Fences' extraordinary self-titled debut -- co-produced by Sara Quin of
Tegan & Sara -- was greeted with unanimous critical applause upon its 2010 arrival, with SPIN naming it among its "10 Best Albums You Might Have Missed This Year."
Furthermore, NYLON hailed "FENCES" for "(bringing) together (Elliott) Smith's delicately wistful melodies and Morrissey's beautiful melancholia." Mansfield is "a slacker songwriter of some note," declared the Dallas Observer, with the Washington Post commending his "weary voice, finger-picked guitar, and pained-love lyrics." "Mansfield drives a brutally direct heartbreak into the broken, dilapidated slats of a warm but bitter pop," raved the Austin Chronicle, while Seattle's own The Stranger praised "FENCES" for its "thoughtfully crafted pop songs and beautiful acoustic ballads," noting that "soon, with songs this strong, (Mansfield) won't just look like a rock star -- he'll actually be one."
A charismatic and engaging performer, Fences has also earned high praise as a live act, both solo and with the crack band he gathers to give full life to his stunning songs. In addition to countless headline gigs, Fences has toured alongside such like-minded artists as Tegan & Sara,
Against Me! and Hellogoodbye, while also winning over crowds at major American festivals including Lollapalooza and the Bonnaroo
Music & Arts Festival.
For more, please visit www.fencesmusic.com, www.facebook.com/fencesvswolf, www.twitter.com/ffeenncceess, www.instagram.com/fencesmusic, www.youtube.com/fencesmusic and www.top40-charts.com
(TRACKLISTING BELOW)
FENCES - "LESSER OCEANS"
(Elektra Records)
Release Date: October 14th
Pre-Sale Begins: July 29th
COMPLETE TRACKLISTING
1. Songs About Angels
2. The Lake
3. Dogs At The Table
4. Arrows (Feat.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
5. Running Off The Gods
6. Sunburns
7. Dusty Beds
8. My Mountain Is Cold
9. Lesser Oceans
10. Temple Dreaming.
