Manning Fireworks

His contributions earlier this year to Waxahatchee’s excellent Tigers Blood already hinted as much, and with Manning Fireworks, Lenderman has positioned himself as a deservedly beloved figure of modern guitar music.

The doomed romance, the ragged heartful-ness, the underlying shimmer of cleverness, that’s one element that makes Lenderman’s fourth full-length studio album so special. The other is the wrecking ball arrangements, that turn loose squalls of feedback addled electric guitar amid hazy swoons of strings. .... It never feels like Lenderman is trying to[o] hard. It’s like it’s all natural, all heartfelt, all direct from him to you, except it’s not. It’s more interesting than that.

Manning Fireworks is an album that you’ll keep coming back to time and time again, a record that firmly secures MJ Lenderman in the pantheon of great singer-songwriters.

There are no more ghosts in these guitar solos, and the wiry licks and riffs are as sure-footed and confident as the tightly crafted structure of each song. It's easy listening, yet fiercely complex.

Lenderman has produced his clearest vision yet of what it looks like when the saddest & funniest people in the room are the same guy.

Manning Fireworks, his third studio album and maybe his best, sounds like the Drive-By Truckers backing Vic Chesnutt. [Sep 2024, p.36]

Lenderman has honed his songwriting such that I’d nominate a couplet for short story of the year: “Kahlúa shooter/DUI scooter.” He’s got lines that’ll paint a stupid grin on your face.

A perfect and more mature follow-up to Boat Songs, Manning Fireworks’ depths provide the listener with room for endless introspection.

Manning Fireworks is his own fusion of the contemplation of Harvest and the release of Zuma, and it's a small triumph of noisy roots rock.

Might be his best effort yet. [Oct 2024, p.102]

His fourth solo effort but first for ANTI-, the album like those before it is an unpretentious affair, filled with plenty of sly, smart humor, packed with underdog energy.

As the album unwinds, increasingly searing guitar solos and distortion accentuate the uneasiness in Lenderman’s lyrics. Superb single She’s Leaving You could be his best song yet, and epic drone freakout Bark at the Moon is a joyously weird closer.

Blurring the lines between inner and outer worlds, ‘Manning Fireworks’ is a powerful achievement, one that deserves to last.

‘Manning Fireworks’ is an album that aches for its cast of freaks and losers, and its success in walking that line is a sign of MJ Lenderman’s richly developing voice.

Manning Fireworks may not create the same level of enthusiasm as the unexpected Boat Songs, but MJ Lenderman remains equally convincing as a generational songwriter on this go around.

Manning Fireworks is a more conventional singer-songwriter album than Boat Songs, not as loud or as funny. But it shows Lenderman further carving out his unique space as a budding master of downmarket realism.

Booze and heartache are constants, but the mood is never morose, borne aloft by Lenderman’s guitar playing, which is primal but emotionally lucid. His tender lyricism is another big plus, locating laudable empathy for his cast of lovable losers. [Oct 2024, p.90]

The vitality and enthusiasm that comes through in Lenderman’s guitar work throughout Manning Fireworks is undeniable. His playing isn’t particularly flashy or technical—it’s all in the feel.

Manning Fireworks is polished and lean, and it’s not unfair to wonder if the record is an attempt to capitalise on Lenderman’s sudden popularity. It’s front-loaded with his best work – funny songs about sad acts and disappointment.

Lenderman plays the tropes, sure, but when those warm blasts of fuzz come swelling up underneath that lazy slide guitar, what else can you do but smile and roll right along with them? If I don’t feel this hitting the status of its great forebears, that sure won’t keep them from being in the same conversation; hell, with Manning Fireworks Lenderman may find himself shuffling his way into that pantheon.