Music Monday

Lovely Monday to you, reader. We have to admit, here at the offices of KoR we’ve been on a bit of a singer-songwriter kick lately. Sure, the ‘hey, look I’m sad and I have a guitar’ thing can get old and a bit boring sometimes, but, when you think about it, it’s one of independent modern music’s most intimate presentations to an audience. Without all the bells and whistles and hoots and hollers and zing-a-bing-bings, a son’s that’s stripped down to vocals, clear, sincere lyrics, and a raw, basic musical skeleton of guitar plucking and piano lines can really speak to you if the writing’s strong, right? We think so. Which is why we’ve been digging things like the new solo album from Cursive’s Tim Kasher and the stunningly beautiful new release by Brooklyn’s Sharon Van Etten (that one’s a must). Newly added to the list: The self-titled debut by Fences, AKA Chris Mansfield. A friend of ours was kind enough to send over some press on the Pacific Northwesterner and we’re glad she did. Mansfield’s music is beautiful and his voice sounds more grey and sad and earnest than you’d expect from someone in his late twenties, but we hear it rains a lot over there, so what can you do. Check out his song, “My Girl the Horse,” as this week’s Song of the Week, and then head over to his MySpace page to hear more and his site to buy the whole album…or some other odd stuff, like signed wolf masks or “FOREVER BUMMED” totes…. It must rain a LOT, right?