MJ Lenderman is one of best guitarists working today, though you wouldn't know it from chatting with him. Yes, he's gained renown for wrangling idiosyncratic yet catchy riffs and solos from his Fender Jazzmaster and Gibson SG on not only his acclaimed solo projects, but also his contributions to beloved albums by Wednesday and Waxahatchee. All this has made the 25-year-old North Carolina prodigy's latest, Manning Fireworks (out Friday on ANTI-), one of the most anticipated LPs of the year.
And yet, Lenderman is humble to the point of sounding hushed during a phone interview with Exclaim! When asked about whether his approach differs between solo projects like Manning Fireworks and his work in Wednesday or with Waxahatchee, he says simply, "I write my own songs, and when I'm playing with other people, I don't write their songs. I guess I just play guitar."
Of course, there's more to it than that, even if it takes a bit of coaxing to get the details. Thankfully, most music journalists know that the key to an introverted musical genius's heart is to ask about gear. Despite the sophistication of some of the solos and riffs on Manning Fireworks, Lenderman reveals, "My pedal situation is pretty simple," yet again admirably downplaying aspects of what he makes sound so refined.
It certainly doesn't sound simple on songs like "You Don't Know the Shape I'm In," a Wilco-meets-Pavement slow burn on which Lenderman uses a wah pedal. The result: "Overtones and a simple, drone-y part. So I'm pretty pumped about that," he says.
Lenderman then recalls his path away from, then back to, that often used (and as a result unfairly maligned piece) of hardware. "The wah pedal is the first pedal I ever got, because Jimi Hendrix used it. But I kind of had written it off for a long time. And then I heard the Swirlies, and I thought their use of the wah pedal was really cool," Lenderman says of the '90s underground favourites from Boston, who sometimes sound like they were pushing their instruments and equipment to the brink with distortion and drones. Lenderman goes on to cite Spencer Radcliffe's 2017 album Enjoy the Great Outdoors as another inspiration for him to reassess the wah pedal. Since then, Lenderman has used the effect frequently, especially on his work in Wednesday.
As well as from shouting out other musicians as influences, Lenderman is even quicker to praise his collaborators on Manning Fireworks. Closer "Bark at the Moon" stands out with its gnarly yet unwieldy breakdown that ends the album with a multitude of sounds, calling for equally numerous replays. That immersive inviting yet intriguingly ambiguous mini-jam session wasn't achieved by guitars alone. Far from it, says Lenderman, who lists its contributors: Landon George on upright bass, Colin Miller on a banjo sustained with an EBow, Shane McCord on clarinet, and Lenderman on synths.
That array of instruments might sound overwhelming. But Manning Fireworks co-producer Alex Farrar says the singer-guitarist could handle all that more than capably. Calling him "Jake" for short (his given name is Mark Jacob Lenderman), Farrar tells Exclaim! via email, "Jake has a really special balance of musicianship, virtuosic talent and a discerning sense with arrangement. It's really easy to walk into a studio with a ton of instruments set up and feel like they all must have their place in every song. Jake's songs don't ever feel like there's any more going on than there absolutely needs to be. He writes great songs and gives them a framework that is focused and totally supportive."
Lenderman admits Farrar helps offset some of his flaws, calling Farrar "a great engineer. He's super efficient in Pro Tools, so we can work really quickly. He's also extremely organized, and it's kind of a routine to go into the studio. It's like we work from 11 to six every day, and in my normal life, I don't have much of a routine like that. It's really nice, and it's way more productive to work that way."
Aside from additional discipline and structure, Lenderman made an even bigger change to his approach for Manning Fireworks. This came after playing in Wednesday, whose songs are written by Lenderman's bandmate Karly Hartzman (who also gives a heartstring tugging guest vocal turn on Manning Fireworks' lead single "She's Leaving You"). After Hartzman pens the core of a Wednesday song, Lenderman and the other members come up with their parts, and, "There's not really much room for improvisation or anything," says Lenderman. He would save such intuitive playing for his solo work in the past, but, "Playing with Wednesday showed me that it's also really fun to have parts written."
The one time he did improvise on Manning Fireworks was the cascade of droning distortion Lenderman, George, Miller and McCord use to close the album on "Bark at the Moon." The old saying about going out with a bang certainly applies to this climactic jam. So why was it the right finishing touch? "It's kind of like an exhale," Lenderman says, sounding zen-like.
Why not follow your intuition when it leads to the sparky guitar riffs effusing from Manning Fireworks? It's the same off-the-cuff ethos that leads not only to his primal playing, but also the deft comedic timing that helps Lenderman's quirky lyrics land. It's what promoted him to make a left-field homage to Ozzy Osborne's song of the same name on "Bark at the Moon." When he references Ozzy's song on that track, Lenderman even gives a cheeky howl.
When it comes to that, Lenderman jokes that he "may not tour with clarinets" to recreate every note of "Bark at the Moon," but at least "the howling comes easy."