New Releases category interest

MJ Lenderman — the North Carolina-based singer, songwriter, and musician — has released the final taste from his upcoming new album, Manning Fireworks, out this Friday via ANTI-, with the instantly addictive new single “Wristwatch.” As praised by the New Yorker, “Wristwatch” is “one of the best songs from Manning Fireworks, [Lenderman] imbues clever lyrics with real, modern heartache.” In addition, Lenderman and his live band The Wind have announced a 2025 West Coast tour. Tickets are on sale Friday, Sept. 6th and will be available here. 

Following in the footsteps of the “slacker anthem of the summer” (The FADER) “She’s Leaving You” and the “Manning Fireworks thesis statement” (UPROXX) “Joker Lips,” “Wristwatch” sees Lenderman again provide us with a world-weary story that straddles the line between humor and sadness, as he sings of someone that’s too proud of what they have to be humble about what they’ve forsaken. “I got a beach home up in Buffalo / And a wristwatch that’s a compass and a cell phone,” Lenderman deadpans, before eventually realizing it's just “a wristwatch that tells me / I’m on my own.” 

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Listen to “Wristwatch” 

Recorded at Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studios and co-produced with frequent collaborator Alex Farrar, Manning Fireworks is an instant classic of an LP and a remarkable development in Lenderman’s story as an incisive singer songwriter, whose propensity for humor always points to some uneasy, disorienting darkness. The punchlines from his previous albums are still here, as are the rusted-wire guitar solos that have made him a favorite for indie rock fans looking for an emerging guitar hero. Executed with a precision and care that make his songs feel like short films, Lenderman simply offers everyday anxieties and enthusiasms in uncanny ways.