GutterPutter

Mark Jacob Lenderman, North Carolina-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, has been making a shit-load of noise over the past few years. Between 2018 and 2021, he was playing drums for his contemporary Indigo De Souza for her first two albums. He was a member of Wednesday, a promising band with vocalist Karly Hartzman whom he used to date. 2022 saw his first album under the record label Anti- titled Boat Songs which was released with positive reactions two years later, he played a bit of guitar for Waxahatchee on Tiger’s Blood with some featured guest performance on ‘Right Back To It’. Blending the boundary-pushing aspirations of alt-country with the roughness of lo-fi productions, Lenderman stood out from other musicians for his artistry.

Manning Fireworks is Lenderman’s latest outing which, clocking at only around 38 minutes in total, is really good in its quality. Never mind the simple minimalism of slacker rock, the album roots itself in twangy guitar notes and chillaxed vocals. ‘She’s Leaving You’ is a key example as the lead single since, for all its focus on one-night stands and materialistic relationships, the harmonised singing with Hartzman and counter-melodic riffs shows that this isn’t one to despair over. Instead, it’s one that we might as well accept and move on from as evidenced by the chorus – “We all got work to do”. Similarly, ‘Joker Lips’ takes a dive into the escapism of a lonely individual who indulges in his fantasy from the TV, yet the lead guitar and the Mellotron helps evade the miserliness of the lifestyle. It gives off the impression that it is a part of everyday life.

The heart of Manning Fireworks, as it stands, is that it likes to dive into the mundane disillusion of being a teenager or young adult. To note, it doesn’t have the quirkiness of the Dismemberment Plan, the Brave Little Abacus’s expressive experimentations, or Adjy’s operatic ambitions. It largely sticks with the same unfiltered fuzz and feedback that the likes of Sparklehorse had done, one that Lenderman himself had cited as one of his key influences. He doesn’t so much incorporate that literary sharpness that transcends the music beyond his contemporaries. Maybe the closest to an outlier would be ‘You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In’ which, driven by gentle clarinets and glissandro guitar slides, has abstract imagery regarding Noah’s Ark and a “Clarinet singing its lonesome duck walk”. It all links up well with the idea of drifting apart when everyone is in a relationship, one that is further backed by Hartzman’s backing singing given the context.

On one hand, the more basic lyricism costs him a bit of opportunity for some witty writing like in ‘Wristwatch’ or ‘Rip Torn’ as outside of the respective metaphors of the wristwatch and the sharks, the storytelling might come off as dull. Throwing in some fiddle or pedal steel guitar might help to add in some instrumental texture, but it doesn’t fully mask the neutered downtrodden vibes that are attempted compared to other songs. There are however a lot of pop culture references that help to further ground the music’s appeal as being completely devoid of any pretensions. Take the references to Lightning McQueen from Pixar’s Cars in ‘Rudolph’ or to the Eagles in the opening title track. Are there waxed semantics to make them vividly pop up in our mind? Not really, but the conversational delivery compliments the already working-class-esque songwriting and it keeps the whole album consistent.

One of the biggest compliments for the album is its tendency to break down into feedback-laden guitar breaks that encapsulates youthful angst without the need to say a word. ‘On My Knees’ has two, each happening on the first two choruses, that feels surprisingly expressionistic (pretentious, I know) in its depiction of sexual frustration and social alienation. It might not be the most technically proficient, but it perfectly fits in the album to the point where it feels like a penultimate standout. 

‘Bark at the Moon’ sees its guitar solos elongate its notes for a bit with some effects to muffle the distortion, blurring the line with electronic notes. This feels like a great summary of the whole album as the song deals with the self-deprecating possessiveness of holding on to an ex even though little has been done about it aside from playing Guitar Hero and staying in your room. It would have been a perfect ending as well had it not been for the last five minutes of the track which is ambient-driven with only the long-lasting ringing and fuzzled feedback. It feels like it has overstayed its welcome for too long when it could have been shortened down to around two and a half minutes.

Manning Fireworks is an album that I ultimately enjoy! Is it a state-of-the-art opus? At least not up to my personal taste. The lyricism could have been a tad bit more poetic only for tracks that depend on unreliable narration, at least one instrumental part feels too long for its own good, and it stays well in its lane to a fault. It doesn’t aspire to break new grounds, but it really has no need to do so. Instead, a combination of rough-edged instrumentation, mellow singing, and a heightened understanding of song composition to accentuate the emotional impact from the guitar playing. For those who yearn for the 90s’ slacker rock music to return, Manning Fireworks might be up your avenue.

3.9/5