MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks (September 6, 2024) Album • Page 11

the mood / atmosphere he creates on bark at the moon is so sick

 

This whole album is very good and I'm sorry I keep talking about "Wristwatch," but I think I'm obsessed with that one because he's so good at writing from the point of view of a specific kind of guy. He's like the Conner O'Malley of music, but without the chaos. The narrator of the song is pathetic, which makes those choruses even funnier and a tinge sad. His songwriting voice just feels so fresh to me, even if there were others before him who wrote like that and I'm sure there will be others after.

 

I've never listened to his solo stuff although I like Wednesday but I'm hearing a lot of Wilco/Jeff Tweedy comparisons for this which has my interest piqued. this a good one to start with for his stuff?

 

it is, though you could also start with the live record from last year as it kind of serves as an overview of most everything he did up until that point

 

I’d say more than a tinge sad, that song is distressingly bleak to me. Also probably my favorite on the record too, unless it’s She’s Leaving You or On My Knees

 

I like how much he lets his Dave Berman influence show. Made me revisit Purple Mountains for the first time in awhile.

 

definitely see a lot of berman in the lyrics, particularly with how abstract and weirdly specific he gets in a lot of places

 

@ImAMetaphor is right, I'd recommend the live album first because it's a great overview of his vibe and songwriting up to now, then this album.

 

word thanks everyone. not generally a live album guy but I'll give er a whirl

 

Wilco are incredibly influential right now. Indie-rock-country-americana with noise elements is equally descriptive of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as, say, Rat Saw God. I can definitely hear a lot of Wilco in Manning Fireworks too.

 

it's a Wilco world baby we're just livin in it

 

It’s the Jason Molina vibes for me

 

you know he’s good when he’s getting regular comparisons to goats like molina, berman, wilco, young, etc.

 

boat songs is the place to start, one of thee defining records of this decade so far. the live record is nice because it takes pre-boat songs songs and makes them a bit more rocking when the production on the first two records doesn't allow for that. but the production on boat songs is insanely good.

 

Yea, I'd vote Boat Songs to start too. Then live album. Then Manning Fireworks.

 

Agreed, start there, but this is far and away my favorite thing that he's done. Boat Songs rocked, but this blows it out of the water imo

 

I put this on the tour thread but I thought I also put this on here

 

I knew he lifted the Pope line from Harry Crews but had no idea it came from the book I’m currently reading (The Gospel Singer):

“Every Catholic knows that he could have been the Pope, had circumstances just worked out right; and every criminal, even the pettiest, knows in his heart that he is really Pretty Boy Floyd or John Dillinger. Every man knows that his gift will set him free if he is just lucky enough. Or unlucky enough, depending upon your point of view.”

The plot of this book 100% inspired the title track too lol

 

boat songs, live and loose, and manning fireworks are all elite. i know the new one literally just came out, but i'm just so excited to watch his career from here. going back to earlier comments, i can so easily see him in the same realm as a berman or molina where it's just one classic album after another. him and wednesday give me the same level of excitement as when i found julien baker during the sprained ankle days and really had my musical world open up.

 

It’s early but Boat Songs will be very hard to unseat for me. One of the best albums of the decade no doubt.

 

I have to return to Boat Songs because i loved the live record and only then listened to Boat Songs and it did not hit to the point that I wasn’t sure how i’d feel about this one

 

Boat Songs and this one rule equally for different reasons, and I feel like the live album is genuinely a perfect blend of where he's been and where he was going

 

Boat Songs is scrapper and more lo-fi. Manning Fireworks is the clean follow up that allows an even greater level of songwriting to shine through. An indie rock tradition as old as time following in the footsteps of Surfer Rosa - Doolittle, Slanted & Enchanted - Crooked Rain and countless others. Personal preference will determine which is "better".

 

This record is really growing on me. She's Leaving You is stuck in my head since Friday, followed by Wristwatch and Joke Lips.
Played right after Jackson Browne's For Everyman it fits perfectly in that '70s singer-songwriter realm with a '90s alternative edge.

 

read this as Jason Momoa