Manning Fireworks
MJ Lenderman (ANTI-, 2024)
Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether we should yell at or empathize with the masculine lonely jerks in our lives. Maybe they got what they deserved? Or maybe life just made them that way? But still, they are alone, and in the universe of Manning Fireworks, MJ Lenderman sits them in front of a static laden TV and gives them a smart watch.
On Lenderman’s brilliant fourth studio album and first for ANTI- Records he crafts wonderfully quaint alt-country songs, and paints the male loneliness epidemic in strikingly mundane detail. The population of Manning Fireworks can’t stop flirting with clergy nurses (“Rudolph”), they have DUIs, they wake up passed out in Lucky Charms (“Rip Torn”), sexually harass women at the circus, and brag about having a houseboat at the “Himbo Dome” (“Wristwatch”) … maybe they should just be left alone.
Lenderman’s subtle and nervous voice paired with the longing of the pedal steel behind him create an ever-so-slightly empathetic environment. Who’s to say whether we are supposed to see ourselves within these characters, or instead just revel in the vulnerable portrait created around them? Like Southern novelist Harry Crews, Lenderman’s songs are simply interested in painting as honest a portrait as possible. Where Crews focused on the south, Lenderman turns to the hours of Men’s Rights Activists Instagram influencers he’s hate-watched, with every comedic and surreal detail included.
But still, these are people who are “torn up.” All they have is a McDonalds to sit at after a breakup, and Guitar Hero to turn to at the end of the night. They seem to be consumed by the alienation that consumes us all. These are characters at their worst, and consequently at their most human. Perhaps this is where Lenderman’s songs get their power. After all, we are all born “just a perfect little baby” (“Manning Fireworks”), and unfortunately some of us end up jerks.
Image: MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks album cover
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