There’s a flicker of hope coming from indie-rock band Fences in its second album, “Lesser Oceans.” With very little time under its belt as a known entity in the Seattle music scene, the album is impressive in its ability to sound incredibly radio-friendly and somehow original at the same time.
The major single, “Sunburns,” begins as a track reminiscent of electronica masters The Postal Service before morphing into a surfer-pop ditty like Vance Joy’s “Riptide” of 2013.
It’s disconcerting that “Sunburns” was listed as a single when there are far more notable songs on the album like “Dogs At The Table.” Its lyrics are heavy on canine wordplay, going so far as to feature howling at its opening that comes off joyfully silly like a Weezer song.
The aforementioned flicker of hope is only a flicker because some of the choices made by Fences in recording “Lesser Oceans.” Principally, it’s the band’s decision to record the thumping “Arrows” with a featured performance by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. By the end of the song, it’s hard to tell if “Can’t Hold Us” is playing or something else.
A shining star in the 33 minutes of “Lesser Oceans” is the song “Dusty Beds.” Written with what sounds like bare-bones honesty, the track shows off its quick hook that keeps listeners invested. Unfortunately, this investment is short-lived because the song clocks in at around three minutes. “Dusty Beds” builds in complexity, eventually expanding its vocals to reverberated backup singing and mixing in oscillating tones that give it a spacey vibe.
This is a jump forward from Fences’ 2010 eponymous debut. It had more mixing issues, resulting in a thin sound, which takes away from decent songwriting and composition from the band. “Lesser Oceans” brings a better listening experience and clearer efforts from the band. A collaboration with Macklemore can only be justified by the fact that both acts hail from Seattle. If Fences can get a moderately successful name like Macklemore on its work, it should flex that muscle even more and try to get some more reputable artists on its next album or EP.