Local Natives

'Local Natives', a quintet from Los Angeles whose rousing pastiche of rustic vocals and enchanting harmonies warmed the crowds assembled inside the NME tent at this years Leeds & Reading festivals - taking no prisoners as they fueled the festival vibe, inside a tent packed quite generously, with their own O...range County brand of almost Grizzly Bear-esque composition and compatibility.

Local Natives are a burgeoning rock and roll group at heart, yet their lofty tri-way crooning, the keen penchant for melody and perhaps most notably the open armed accessibility of their debut record 'Gorilla Manor' has vaulted them into the same ranks as Seattle's favourite baroque-pop folk botherers Fleet Foxes, and, rather irrepressibly, the same comparisons are being made with festival headliners Arcade Fire. A personal favourite from a weekend saturated with great new music and old favourites alike.

Check out their single 'Sun Hands' live on KEXP, ultimately beautiful.

Chris Mansfield & Fences

Presented as dull throbs of heartache and ruminations, Chris Mansfield's music, penned under the name 'Fences', is so very daintily poetic that it seems to bleed the emotions out one by one. He hails from Seattle, and counts Sara Quin as an avid fan. So much of a fan is Sara that not only does she appear on the track 'My Girl The Horse' currently streaming on his myspace, but she's gone all out and produced Fences' upcoming debut album set for release this September.

Much of Fences' style can aptly be described as pop, yet there is a tarnished almost strained harmony to his tracks, a real cathartic presence which deftly sweeps aside any encroaching notions of the all too familiar 'pop cheesy-ness.' Chris' songwriting prowess is powerfully refreshing, the first track streaming on his myspace, 'Boys Around Here' rolls around for three minutes in a playful bundle of comforting melody, partnered so soothingly by a voice almost as spider web thin as the late Elliott Smith's. Such a web does well to carry the weight of Mansfield's lyrics; all in all very touching, nothing less than poignant at best.Check this act out, your time and attention would be very worthwhile spent here.

Chris can be contacted at myspace.com/fencesvswolf or at sadcastle.blogspot.com