Fleece return with ‘Bodies Lie’

Queer Montreal indie-rockers Fleece have shared their latest single, Bodies Lie, lifted from their third LP, ‘Stunning and Atrocious,’ set for an August 20 release. Bodies Lie marks the first time guitarist Megan Ennenberg has taken the lead, penning a song which is an explosive ode to potential energy, and being more powerful than people perceive you to be. 

Discussing, Megan noted, “This song is about the feeling of having potential and being up against all the worldly things that try so damn hard to bring you down. For me, as a woman, that unfortunately means a world of patriarchal stuff that I’ve been at war with for what feels like my whole life. Sometimes my impulse is to just scream and yell ‘You were wrong! Look how powerful I am!’, as if I’m in battle and following the same violent impulse that’s been used against me too many times. But, the thing is, my power isn’t a violent one, and this song is about understanding that, loving that, and feeling powerful always.” Listen to Bodies Lie via YouTube below.

‘Stunning and Atrocious’ finds Fleece more confident and united as a group than ever before, and they aren’t holding back on sharing their roadmap for how they see the world. While having largely been focused on the songwriting of Matt Rogers and the relentless energy of drummer and co-founder Ethan Soil, Fleece has always been about being a band. Fleece’s previous music had drawn from musicians no longer in the project, but it was the emergence of Megan and fellow guitarist Jameson Daniel, as members, that completed the line up and contributed to the cohesive whole, the final resting place, and the rebirth of Fleece. 

Discussing Matt stated, “I think we’re finally Fleece. In the past, the process was more about bringing my own compositions to the band, but this album is a complete coming together of all of our brains. We played whatever we came up with, stream of consciousness style, and then restructured the songs until they felt right. It was a bit daunting to give up control at first, but the product and process of collaborating made Fleece more exciting for all of us. I definitely grew from it too.”

Written from the late parts of 2018 until 2020, the album was a first for Fleece in that it was created with a collective focus in mind. While on tour, the band would write and demo songs, creating oodles of voice-memo-type song skeletons everywhere they went, from rural Texas to the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec to a highway-side rehearsal room in Montreal. The song ideas came together naturally, and the singers began weaving in lyrics about the complexities of vulnerability, sexuality, love, depression and anxiety, joy and silliness, honesty, and power. And then, of course, the lens of a pandemic magnified the stunning and atrocious parts of all of these tropes, and they wove in that new intensified insight as well. 

Throughout this process the band found themselves with an abundance of ideas, a wealth of songs, ultimately collecting three albums worth of content and slowly finding which songs stuck, which would make the cut. The band hired friends to help engineer, rented studios, and waltzed into the tracking process, comfortable and willing to capture the vibes and sound that they’d been nurturing. “Most of the album is self-produced so we really got to tinkering with sounds in post-production together. I’d say overall this album process made my friendship with Megan, Ethan, and Jameson even stronger. I just love them so much,” noted Matt. Adding, “If nothing else, the pandemic gave us all time.“ 

In Fleece’s case, that meant time to play, record, breathe, reflect, record more, post-produce, mix, and finally master. And so it was that the album was born. From its infancy on the road to the adolescent struggles of defining its boundaries and makeup and to the shiny bright-eyed young adult collection of songs proudly and outrageously presented now.

‘Stunning and Atrocious’ track list
01. All My Money
02. Like It A Lot
03. Upside Down
04. Do U Mind? (Leave The Light On)
05. My Type (I Don’t Mind)
06. Something Real
07. Inner Tube
08. So Long
09. Love Song For The Haters
10. Bodies Lie
11. Moving On
12. Just A Sec
13. Why Can’t We Be Alone

They also announced a U.S. tour supporting Jukebox The Ghost in September/October [check out the dates below].

Tour dates

09/09 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall ^
09/10 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk ^
09/11 – Dallas, TX @ Trees ^
09/14 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom ^
09/15 – San Diego, CA @ HOB Voodoo ^
09/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex ^
09/18 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall ^
09/19 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s ^
09/21 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune ^
09/22 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom ^
09/24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex ^
09/25 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre ^
09/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre ^
09/29 – Kansas City, MO @ Truman ^
09/30 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall ^
10/01 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East ^
10/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West ^
10/04 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Tavern ^
10/06 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle ^
10/07 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern ^
10/08 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club ^
10/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
^ with Jukebox The Ghost

For more information on Fleece, visit www.fleecemusic.com.