MJ Lenderman: "After the second chorus, that's when you blast off"

With ‘Manning Fireworks’, MJ Lenderman bridges the gap between humour and heartbreak, delivering a record that’s both accessible and profound. Check out the latest cover story for our New Music Friday playlist edit, PLAY.

Words: Martyn Young.

"I don't have much of a life outside music at the moment," sighs MJ Lenderman as he ponders the last couple of years in which excitement about his witty, frequently hilarious, and often heartbreaking alt-rock guitar songs has grown exponentially. His new album, 'Manning Fireworks' is one of the most anticipated of 2024.

"There have been a lot of changes in my life," he adds as he relaxes at home in Asheville, North Carolina. Despite the changes and all the buzz and hype, Lenderman keeps his feet firmly on the ground, and nothing, absolutely nothing, seemingly gets him flustered. "It was a new, unfamiliar territory for me going in to record the new album," he explains in his typically relaxed way. "I had a long time to do it, though. By the end of it, I was feeling pretty good and not really worried about the outside."

There's always a moment when a musician crosses the boundaries from cult concern to an overground sensation. With 'Manning Fireworks', it feels like MJ Lenderman is on that precipice. Everyone knew he was a gifted songwriter from his lo-fi, homespun solo albums like 2022's acclaimed 'Boat Songs' and his work as a guitar player in celebrated alt-rock band Wednesday, but it was the release of 'Manning Fireworks' lead single, the soaring ode to male desolation 'She's Leaving You', that provided a gently morose and idiosyncratic counterpoint to the nihilism of brat summer and the pop explosion of Sabrina and Chappell. This was guitar music like thousands had done before, but there was a spark and an energy that seem to resonate with these conflicted times from a young songwriter who can appeal to different generations.

For Lenderman, though, there's not really any time for theorising or grand statements. He can leave that to other people. "I didn't really have a concept for what I was doing," he laughs. "The first session I did recording the album, I wasn't even trying to make an album. I wasn't sure. I kept accumulating some songs, and the things I'm writing about are not all that different from what I was doing before, but maybe just a little more honed in."

While working in the studio, there was a revelation that changed the course of the record as Lenderman embraced a quieter aesthetic. "Sonically, there was a while I was trying to go louder and faster, but that wasn't really coming out naturally," he explains. "I had a session where my friend Landon came in and played some upright bass and fiddle, and I realised that it could also be dynamic by going acoustic instead of louder."

One of the most alluring things about MJ Lenderman's work is the humour in his songs and his writing. Sometimes bitter and caustic but often open-hearted and perceptive, his songs cut through because the humour makes them feel real. Like the beautiful baby who turns into a jerk on the countryfied opening title-track, or the show-off blowhard in 'Wristwatch', who's "Got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome".

The album is packed with witty imagery and killer lines, but is everything always explicitly designed to be funny, or is there sometimes an ulterior, bigger picture? "People generally pick up on the parts that are supposed to be funny," ponders Lenderman. "Maybe I see it as a failure on my end when I see people realise that it's not just funny. I was taking that into consideration when writing this record."

There's a fine line that runs between writing to be explicitly funny and writing normally, with the by-product of that being that it actually is funny. "The distinction is that the things that are usually funny are also sad," says Lenderman in his endearingly understated manner. "It's about how you say it. Those things can amplify each other."

Where those moments of humour run up against the real-life stark emotions that cut through like a knife, that's when the magic of 'Manning Fireworks' stops you in your tracks. Moments like the wistful chorus of the otherwise languid bliss of 'Joker Lips' where Lenderman sings, "And you know I love my TV, but all I really wanna see is see you need me." We're with you, MJ. We feel it right there, too.

MJ Lenderman's songs have always been character-focused vignettes, but on this album, they feel ever more rounded and vivid. It's not clear how personal these characters are to Lenderman himself, but it's obvious that he has to have some degree of connection with them. "I'm interested in having a level of empathy for the characters. I hope that comes through, but maybe not," he laughs. Even when he's writing about someone who is objectively awful, he still can't quite bring himself to utterly despise them, though. Take, for example, the dreadful creep of the title track with its chorus of "Some have passion, some have purpose, you have sneakin' backstage to hound the girls in the circus."

"Having somebody who is just pure evil is kind of comic booky or cartoonish," he states. "The character in 'Manning Fireworks' is probably closest to that. There's not much redeeming about whoever that is."

Elsewhere on the album, there's the story of the material show-off of 'Wristwatch', a character who Lenderman doesn't really hate but more pities. "There's something pathetic about it," he says. You get the feeling Lenderman isn't really someone too impressed with the kind of person who has "a wristwatch that's a pocket knife and a megaphone." Is he a secret tech guy, though? "I've got a phone, I guess."

The release of 'Manning Fireworks' comes after a few years of Lenderman establishing himself as a top-tier new guitar player in demand. He worked extensively with Waxahatchee on her stunning album 'Tigers Blood'. "Working with her and that whole crew was really awesome," he says. "They're all just seasoned pros at this point. I hadn't really ever been in a session like that before. I learned a lot about confidence. They made me feel good working in that situation."

While 'Manning Fireworks' has its core of careworn country laments burnished with fiddle, upright bass, acoustic guitars, and a wide array of musical accompaniments, there are still frequent moments of guitar virtuosity and thrilling solos from a guitar hero for a new generation. "I wouldn't say hero," he laughs self-deprecatingly. Maybe not a hero, but he's certainly capable of delivering some sound advice to all you guitarists out there. When exactly is the right time to deploy that killer solo? "The guitar solo comes after the second chorus," he deadpans. "After the second chorus, that's when you blast off. I do that on both 'She's Leaving You' and 'Wristwatch'."

The perfect deployment of the guitar solo is illustrative of the duality at work in MJ Lenderman's songs. It feels perfectly crafted yet completely freewheeling at the same time. "We don't write setlists. We just call them out as they come," he says as he looks ahead to touring the new album. "I guess we should probably focus on the new record," he laughs.

There's a lot to focus on. 'Manning Fireworks' is an imperious album of the year contender from someone who is only just getting started yet feels like they've reached a new level. There's always beauty in simplicity, and while the formula is as old as time, no one in the world is doing it better right now than MJ Lenderman.■