Fences - Fences

Fences - Fences - September 28 - ONTO - Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara is at the production helm for this startlingly good debut from Christopher Mansfield, a Seattle-based singer/songwriter going by the moniker Fences. Folk/pop love songs rubbed raw and bleeding are Mansfield's strong suit, observations filtered through bleak clouds with an occasional shard of hope shining through. Despite their dark, downcast lyrical edge, songs such as "My Girl the Horse" manage to come off as downright pretty, sweet melodies and Quin's simple production the backdrop for Mansfield's supple tenor. The song's refrain "neither one of us will make it down this hill alive, she says" couldn't sound more strangely inviting.

Fences - "My Girl the Horse" (from the album Fences)