Fences To Release Debut LP

Fences will release its debut album on September 28th through Onto Entertainment/ADA. The album was produced by Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara.

Fences might be a band, but it's really the brainchild of one Christopher Mansfield, a Seattle transplant from Boston. It was in Boston that Mansfield studied music at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. It was during this time that Fences was conceived. His girlfriend at the time was studying the works of August Wilson and suggested that he should name his band after the playwright's famed play, Fences.

Fast forward a few years, and Mansfield has moved to Seattle. He recorded a batch of songs that ended up becoming the Ultimate Puke EP. The work helped him build a strong fan base throughout the Pacific Northwest, opening shows for St. Vincent and Mark Kozelek and playing festivals like The Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, The Capitol Hill Block Party and Sasquatch.

Ultimate Puke ended up in the hands of Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara who immediately reached out to Mansfield. After a year or so of correspondence, Quin invited Mansfield to Canada and within weeks, he was recording at Quin's studio in Victoria, B.C. The album was recorded over 10 days, with Mansfield putting in 12 hour days to record 13 songs. The result of all the hard work is a 10 track album, Mansfield's debut LP as Fences.

Check out the songs over at MySpace. It's incredibly moving stuff and features really great songwriting. It's aching, it's warm, it's intimate, and it's filled with enough substance to sink a ship. Mansfield's songs are folk and alt country-inspired tunes filled with something special, with truly genuine expressions of human emotion. There's a story behind all of this music, just like there's a story behind each of his tattoos.

LISTEN: Fences @ MySpace

The new LP is out September 28th.