Photo Via MJ Lenderman - Facebook
MJ Lenderman
Upon first glance, it is easy to write off the characters who populate MJ Lenderman’s album Manning Fireworks as, well, losers. The album’s first track, “Manning Fireworks,” introduces the listener to a man who “once was a baby and now a jerk.” The record’s final song, “Bark at the Moon” (deliciously appropriated from Ozzy Osbourne), follows a protagonist who admits “I’ve never really left my room/I’ve been up too late with Guitar Hero/Playing ‘Bark at the Moon’.” Throughout Manning Fireworks, Lenderman excels at documenting the lives of the immature and the anonymous.
Yet Lenderman follows this Guitar Hero admission with a joyous shout of “Awoooo,” which is faithfully included on the record’s lyric sheet. It is not only a fun shoutout to “Werewolves of London”—and it is not a stretch to cast Lenderman as this generation’s Warren Zevon—but it is also a means to drive home the humanity of those he writes about. These are people “[d]raining cum from hotel showers,” docking houseboats at the “Himbo Dome,” and, most grievously, believing that “Clapton was the second coming.” And one only needs to consult the song titles on Manning Fireworks to know the state of these folks: “She’s Leaving You”; “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In”; and “On My Knees,” to name a few. These are not, in other words, people on top of the world.
Dose of Empathy
It would be difficult to sugarcoat the lives of such individuals. But Lenderman affords his protagonists a certain dignity, and his perspective on their lives is informed by a strong dose of empathy. Lenderman performs such feats by adroitly capturing the details of daily life that define our humanity. “Everybody’s walking in twos,” Lenderman sings as he sets the stage during “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In,” “leaving Noah’s Ark/It’s a Sunday at the water park” (A Wisconsin Dells reference!). The narrator then notes that “We sat under a half-mast McDonald’s flag/Broken birds tumble fast past my window.” By the time Lenderman states “You don’t know the shape I’m in,” the listener effectively does.
Making such lines even more powerful is the way Lenderman delivers them. Manning Fireworks is no lo-fi affair, and it is clear that Lenderman took the time to get his vocals right. His voice is strong yet sympathetic, as he sounds like he has been in many of the predicaments he describes throughout the album. This ability to personalize the universal is Lenderman’s strong suit. Leaning into such strengths, Lenderman uses Manning Fireworks to highlight his rapid evolution as an artist.
Helping Hurricane Recovery
Lenderman recently postponed a series of tour dates due to the damage Hurricane Helene wrought on the regions where Lenderman and his bandmates are based. Online, he has posted ways to help with the recovery process in his home state of North Carolina, and he provided an unreleased song for Cardinals at the Window, a compilation album whose proceeds will go to hurricane survivors. While contemplating the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, I thought of the first line on Manning Fireworks: “Birds against a heavy wind that wins in the end.” That line, placed at the beginning of the album, is not meant to be any sort of conclusion. Instead, it compels us to as a very timely question: “What do we do after we lose?”
For ways to donate to Hurricane Helene relief efforts: List: Ways to donate and help flood victims in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene | WUNC
Cardinals at the Window can be purchased here: Cardinals At The Window | Various Artists | Cardinals At The Window (bandcamp.com)
MJ Lenderman and The Wind will perform Monday, Oct. 14, at Vivarium. According to the Pabst Theater Group website, the show is sold out.
