Fences & Billy Strings Collaborate On New Track ‘Globe’
Singer-songwriter Christopher Mansfield (aka FENCES) has collaborated with Billy Strings, the singer, songwriter and musician who picked up the ‘Best Bluegrass Album’ award at last year’s Grammys.
Mansfield says “Globe” was recorded with Jonathan Wilson in Topanga Canyon. We tracked the song live together with the exception of a few over dubs. Billy and I had sorted out the final arrangement of the song over the telephone months before. He was in Tennessee I believe and I was in the woods of California knee deep in snow. He is truly a force of nature and it’s a tremendous honor for me to make art work with him. I hope it hits everyone’s ears with love and fearlessness in the way we intended.”
Fences recently released a new 5-track EP titled ‘Wide Eyed Elk Ensemble’ which built on the sounds of his previous effort, the critically acclaimed LP ‘Failure Sculptures.’
Over the years, the musician has caught the attention of and collaborated with a diverse group of fellow artists including 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, while touring with the likes of Against Me! and Hellogoodbye.
Praise for Fences:
“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
“We were friends before we made any music together,” we have a lot of things in common – our vices and our demons and our art, the things that we’re good at and our shortcomings.” – Macklemore
“Don’t let the fact that he looks like an extra from Sons Of Anarchy fool you because Chris Mansfield is a pretty sensitive dude. He doesn’t follow anyone on Twitter, so he’s infinitely more productive and prolific than you are. Sorry.”- Noisey
“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
Photo: Jesse Faatz
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