New Music Tuesday: Fences – Failure Sculptures [Album]

Let just kick things off here by saying one statement that should sum up everything I am about to say: Holy Shit! I’ve found a new favorite songwriter in Chris Mansfield, and Fences is incredible! Now I will continue with the fluff, but honestly if you just stop reading this right now, and do your own research on Fences and their incredible album Failure Sculptures, I would not be mad. In fact, I would prefer it. Go away.

Still there? Alright, well, I guess I can say more. Failure Sculpture is basically that small, almost unnoticeable, diamond lying snug amidst the coal. But once noticed, and given further inspection, it may just be one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen. Mansfield actually says a line in the track “Same Blues” that is how I would describe the entire album: “It’s a burn that I like”. That’s what this album is at its core. It’s a collection of sweet yet melancholy tunes that sound as they were meant to be sung in a cigarette smoked filled barroom. Of course, I know that Fences is a Seattle based group, so their probably not doing that. But maybe a smoke filled studio apartment? Anyway, there is just so much singer/songwriter goodness happening throughout this album.

Christopher Mansfield. Photo by Christian Sorensen Hansen.

As of lately, I have tried to avoid singling out one particular track on an album, as I would like to appreciate the entirety of Failure Sculpture as a whole. And I really do. But, fuck, my hands can’t assault this MacBook fast enough to tell you all how much I love the cut “Paper Route”. I have probably ran through the album a dozen times, but if it were still possible, I would have worn out this track. Seriously Folks, every time Mansfield proclaims “Some people stay face down / they’re lucky that way”, my fucking heart straight up sinks. And while I don’t know the exact specifics of what he is expressing in this song, I know what it means to me, and it is a confrontation within my own soul that is thriving and desperately trying to overtake my body, but through a track as sweet as this one and some self-realization, I will overcome. Now, I know I kind of went of the rails there, but it truly is an amazing track, and I’m certain it will enter my rotation of one of the best songs of all time.

You gotta check out Failure Sculptures, Folks! I’m not kidding when I say it is one of the best albums I have heard in a very long time. We proclaimed in April that we had already found the best album of 2019 with Tom Speight’s masterpiece, Collide, but I have to say I am perplexed now. I guess we will see when the end of year lists start to roll out. Either way, Fences has had a real impact on me, and I won’t soon forget it! Check it out!

Failure Sculpture is available everywhere courtesy of GRNDVW. For tour dates and more information, check out the Fence’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.