Fences, the alias of singer-songwriter Christopher Mansfield has released a new track ‘Thin Legs’ via ENCI Records. Watch the Spencer Sease directed video HERE. Mansfield says about the song: “Thin Legs is about being tired… just wanting out. You ever carried a baby after a hike and their legs dangle? It’s like that, stay and sway, kicking black boots on the end of thin legs. Of course, there’s a good amount of prose and I use an interpersonal relationship of the romantic style to sort of drive this home but it truly is about exhaustion.”
‘Thin Legs’ is taken from his forthcoming 4th album ‘Bright Soil’ due later this year. With album art and photos by Adam Goldberg, the songs resonate with Fences’ frustrations with the modern world.
The title track ‘Bright Soil’ (mixed by Ryan Lewis) is a beauty of a song that finds Fences collaborating with The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz. Musicians throughout the album include Felix Pastorius (son of Jaco Pastorius) on bass, Jeremiah Green (Modest Mouse) on drums, Thomas Hunter (The Heavy) on guitar and Mansfield’s wife, Maxine. The album was produced by Fences and Jason Soda.
In the past Fences has collaborated on music with the likes of Billy Strings, Will Oldham, 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 Ryan Lewis.
Released in February 2021 Fences’ most recent EP ‘Wide Eyed Elk Ensemble’ built on the sounds of his previous effort, the critically acclaimed LP ‘Failure Sculptures’. He said ‘Failure Sculptures’ was ‘so literal it felt depressingly personal.’ With ’Bright Soil’ he ‘wanted to feel freer and happier—people may think that sounds funny when they hear the album but that’s where I was at.’
This past September Fences premiered a Jack Kerouac documentary ‘Destination Angels’ (in partnership with the Jack Kerouac Estate) at the De Vinci Film Festival in Los Angeles.
He also recently became a father for the first time. “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.”
With unanimous praise from outlets like Paste Magazine, Clash, Spin, American Songwriter, and others, Fences hopes to be back out on the road soon.
