MJ Lenderman’s most recent albums, Boat Songs from 2022 and Manning Fireworks from September of last year, have propelled him into mainstream currents and garnered much deserved attention.

Lenderman, proudly hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, began his following as the guitarist and off and on vocalist for Wednesday, an indie rock band of fellow Ashville musicians. His solo work, however, allows him all the more freedom to experiment and home in on his unique indie rock tracks gently wrapped in the nostalgic twang of country classics from years before. 

Manning Fireworks is no different. It will make you feel like you’re sitting around a fire on a humid summer night as your friend plays a song that is a little bit a joke and a little bit the best song you’ve never heard. As Lenderman says himself, “Please don’t laugh, only half of what I said was a joke.” And that’s how much of Manning Fireworks feels. Lenderman’s lyrics hover somewhere between unseriousness and immaturity while describing the all too relatable heartbreaks and hangovers that permeate life in your early twenties.

Rudolf, one of the albums singles, will give you fleeting memories of lightning McQueen racing around the Nimbus 500 that both feel all too far away and not far away at all. Not just a one trick pony, Lenderman reminds us of his bluegrass roots with Rip Torn, an acoustic ballad of instruments and pensive lyrics that will transport you to last call at a dive bar halfway between nowhere and nothing. The album may only be nine tracks long, but it feels like a perfect three course meal you can’t wait to have again.

For fans of Lenderman I highly recommend his previous album Boat Songs and Wednesday’s Rat Saw God.