MJ Lenderman

"The first taste of Wednesday guitarist/Waxahatchee collaborator's fourth album portrays a dubious figure sinking into a post-breakup crisis, set to understated sludge." - The Guardian 

“MJ Lenderman reliably writes with the wit and hindsight of someone at least double his age. The proof is in the slacker-country jam ‘She’s Leaving You.’” - Stereogum #1 Song Of The Week

"Lenderman has his first low-key masterpiece album out in September called Manning Fireworks, a record that sounds like the much-missed Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia doing Pavement songs (or vice versa): sad, strung-out pastoral-rock for heartbroken indie kids. First track from that is She’s Leaving You." - The New Cue

Last month, MJ Lenderman - the North Carolina-based singer, songwriter and musician - announced his new album, Manning Fireworks, out September 6th via ANTI-, and released the “future fan favourite” (Consequence) lead single/video, “She’s Leaving You.”

Today, Lenderman gives us another slice with the new single/video “Joker Lips.” A magnetic song about feeling pushed out by everyone else, Lenderman provides us a look at a renewed sincerity in his work, as he deadpans “Please don’t laugh / Only half of what I said was a joke.” Maybe you hear a tremble in his voice? That’s the frown behind the mask, finally slipping from Lenderman’s face. The video for “Joker Lips”, directed by Ben Turok, features Lenderman and The Wind performing in an overgrown field clung to the side of a mountain in Western North Carolina as plants seemingly envelop the band.

Manning Fireworks is an instant classic of an LP — a remarkable development in Lenderman’s story as an incisive singer-songwriter, whose propensity for humour always points to some uneasy, disorienting darkness. The punchlines from his previous albums are still here, as are the rusted-wire guitar solos that have made him a favourite for indie rock fans looking for an emerging guitar hero, with Lenderman letting us in on his frank observations on the intersection of wit and sadness.

Recorded at Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studios and co-produced with frequent collaborator Alex Farrar, Lenderman plays nearly every instrument on the album, routing sadness and shame through guitars that echo the sparkle of R.E.M and the insistence of Drive-By Truckers. Writing where the poetic clarity of William Carlos Williams and the economy of Raymond Carver meet the striking imagery of Harry Crews, there are feelings of self-doubt and world weariness present, but the conditions are rendered with a clarity and care that make his songs feel like short films, as Lenderman simply offers everyday anxieties and enthusiasms in uncanny ways.

Lenderman and his live band The Wind will be embarking on a European and UK headline tour this Autumn, including four sold-out shows in London, Manchester and Dublin.