Fences Brings Arrows

SEATTLE ARTIST FENCES TEAMS UP WITH MACKLEMORE AND RYAN LEWIS TO UNVEIL EPIC MUSIC VIDEO FOR “ARROWS”; COMPANION VIDEO CLIP TO THE LEAD SINGLE FROM FENCES’ FORTHCOMING ALBUM “LESSER OCEANS” DIRECTED BY
GRAMMY NOMINATED DIRECTOR JASON KOENIG AND RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN KEATLEY; FENCES SET TO JOIN MACKLEMORE AND RYAN LEWIS AT GERMANY’S CHIEMISSE SUMMER AND HIGHFIELD FESTIVAL AS WELL AS READING & LEEDS IN THE UK; FENCES’ “LESSER OCEANS” ARRIVES ON OCTOBER 14TH

Elektra recording artist Fences has teamed up with GRAMMY-award winning duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to unveil the companion music video to “Arrows.” The epic music video can be viewed now on Fences’ official YouTube channel, [http://youtu.be/ph6fmk27grc]. “Arrows” (featuring Macklemore and produced by Ryan Lewis) is the lead single from Fences’ forthcoming label debut “LESSER OCEANS,” arriving everywhere on October 14th.

Shot entirely in Seattle, WA, over the course of a week, the “Arrows” video was directed by GRAMMY-nominee and longtime Macklemore and Ryan Lewis friend/collaborator Jason Koenig along with award-winning photographer John Keatley. Koenig previously worked with Fences on the companion music video for “Otherside Remix,” the 2011 collaboration with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. This is the fourth music video that Seattle-based Koenig has helmed for the hip-hop duo, including “Can’t Hold Us” which won a pair of MTV Video Music Awards and earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Music Video.

On the significance of the video, Fences’ Christopher Mansfield says: “From a day dream to a warehouse. This is video is my entire aesthetic embodied. I lost a friend and found love and was killed by an arrow. I hope you all get lost in the world we built.”

Macklemore adds: “This music video was our baby. And we raised that baby. We put hella time, love and energy into that kid of ours. Dozens of all-nighters and studio sleep overs to make sure that kid was the best it could be before we put it out into the world, gave the kid some shoes and told our child to run. Run into the world. Show them who you are. You deserve to be free, baby.”

This past weekend saw Fences join Macklemore and Ryan Lewis onstage during their headlining set at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival for a live performance of “Arrows.” In the coming weeks, Fences will accompany Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to Europe for high profile appearances at Germany’s Chiemisse Summer (August 16) and Highfield Festival (August 17), and the UK’s Leeds (August 22) and Reading (August 24) festivals.

“LESSER OCEANS” immediately shot to the Top 10 on the iTunes Alternative album chart upon becoming available for pre-sale last month (http://smarturl.it/LesserOceans) – all album pre-orders receive instant downloads of both “Arrows” and the album track “Songs About Angels. The digital single for “Arrows” is also currently available (http://smarturl.it/FencesArrows) and was likewise an instant iTunes success upon release, climbing to the Top 5 on the Alternative single chart. “Arrows” can now be heard streaming on Fences’ Official YouTube channel (http://youtu.be/P9yv9TcQoww).

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 previously mentioned fan favorite, “Otherside Remix.” The latter track has proven a certifiable YouTube phenomenon, with the Jason Koenig-directed clip 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. 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.

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.elektra.com/artist/fences.