MJ Lenderman Manning Fireworks
MJ Lenderman’s songs come from the first modern-day generation of kids who hear, “You have to go to college!” and call us olds on our bullshit. Not (necessarily) because he didn’t go (he did). No, this 25-year-old Asheville-based singer-songwriter-guitar mangler defies both description and norms – his music doesn’t fit neatly in a single genre (indie Americana-gaze, perhaps?), and while appearing as someone who could easily be termed a “slacker” (a tousled mop of air, seemingly tossed-off lyrics, never even attempting to out-sing anyone), Lenderman actually has worked as hard as anyone to build his career and his sound. His fourth studio album, Manning Fireworks, finds Lenderman as a fully formed adult for the first time, at once responsible for others and hoping he doesn’t end up like those know-it-all middle-agers who can’t get their own acts together.
Manning Fireworks starts with its title track which, rather than shooting for sonic fireworks, goes for the subtle dig. The loping acoustic tune, which features a ragged fiddle line from Landon George, dismisses religion-for-show – “You’ve opened the Bible in a public place/You’ve opened the Bible to the very first page” – and lays into someone who’s aged…poorly – “You once was a baby and now a jerk.” The album’s second single, “Joker Lips,” is a twangy mid-tempo number that would’ve sounded at home on 70s AM radio and features a narrator full of subtle self-owns, including one of the year’s best couplets – “Kahlua shooter/DUI scooter.”
Lenderman’s “other” job finds him playing in another North Carolina-based band, Wednesday, which just wrapped up a tour supporting one of last year’s best albums, Rat Saw God. Even though Lenderman played most of the instruments on Manning Fireworks, several of his bandmates show up with key contributions. Bass player Ethan Baechtold drops in on piano on “Rip Torn,” which features one of Lenderman’s best off-kilter cultural references to date – “I guess I’ll call you Rip Torn/The way you got tore up.” Pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis appears on two tracks, including the outstanding “Rudolph,” first released as a stand-alone single last year, and also featured on 2023’s best live album, And The Wind (Live and Loose!). And Wednesday fronter-songwriter Karly Hartzman sings on several tracks, most notably the self-induced midlife-catastrophe “She’s Leaving You,” where she has the literal last word on a haplessly philandering spouse.
It’s striking how similar – and different – Lenderman’s two bands are. While he and Hartzman both write sharply observational lyrics, grounded in the mid-20s ennui we all went through, Wednesday frequently goes (quite successfully) for the loud-quiet-loud knockout punch, while Lenderman, in his solo work, prefers the wandering poet route, essentially taking notes and casually singing back his thoughts (aided by some fantastic riffs). Album capper “Bark at the Moon,” before it devolves into six-plus minutes of drone-y buzz that would make The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel sit up and take notice, addresses self-destructive behavior – “I took off on a bender/You took off on a jet.” But it balances out that selfishness with a nod to a young(er) Lenderman’s joyful discovery of music – “I’ve been up too late with Guitar Hero/Playing “Bark at the Moon”/Awooo/Bark at the moon.” Oddly, it’s middle-aged men – the same type at the stinger end of Lenderman’s barbs – that seem to have adopted him as a reluctant folk hero. Sure, we show up for the sports references and the guitar solos we feel like we could play (note – we can’t). But maybe we’re also here because we’re all too aware of our bullshit – we just need to be called on it – and we want to bring back those days of being awed by something new.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “On My Knees” – this would-be Song of the Summer might come a little late for extended, top-down road trips, but the loudest song on Manning Fireworks packs all the feedback of late-era Crazy Horse into a four-minute treatise on the pitfalls of said trip – “‘Cause I know goin’ on vacation brings the worst/Out of everyone.”
Manning Fireworks was produced by MJ Lenderman and Alex Farrar, recorded and mixed by Farrar and mastered by Greg Obis. All songs written by Lenderman. Musicians on the album include Lenderman (guitar, drums, bass, vocals, organ, drone), Farrar (drums, Mellotron, piano), Landon George (upright bass, fiddle, trombone, drone), Ethan Baechtold (piano), Shane McCord (clarinets, drone), Colin Miller (slide bebo, trumpet, drone), Xandy Chelmis (pedal steel), Karly Hartzman (vocals) and Adam McDaniel (bass clarinet abuse drone).
Go here to order Manning Fireworks (out September 6): https://www.mjlenderman.com/merch
Check out tour dates here: https://www.mjlenderman.com/tour
