MJ Lenderman’s gift is his uncanny ability to mix the mundane with the profound. His songs bridge that gap between humour and heartbreak, using droll, funny lines about Jackass and Men In Black to reveal deeper emotional truths. It’s a gift that’s made him an unassuming cult folk hero.
Not that you’d know it looking at the t-shirted figure on stage at The Garage for the first of two sold out shows in the capital. In fact, he appeared nonplussed at the adoration. “Thank you so much. We need you guys more than you even realise. Without you we’d… be in a smaller room,” he deadpanned. The timing, as always, was perfect.
Throughout the set there was that constant feeling that Lenderman is having a moment. From the first notes of the title track from this year’s Manning Fireworks – a record that will soon be appearing on many album of the year lists – the crowd hung on every word, arms aloft, hands pointed stage-wards, singing the songs back to him.
Other highlights from the record quickly followed: Joker Lips, Wristwatch and Rudolph (“Halloween is over, so we’ll give you a Christmas song”). With the help of his band The Wind the country-ish twang of the album was transformed into something joyous and muscular.
There were also older songs: ones about wanting to be a Catholic Priest (“All expenses paid, I'd have it made”) and possibly the only song about Michael Jordan and game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals – Hangover Games. A riotous SUV was another highlight.
Yet it’s the quieter moments that were most affecting. The beautiful sigh of You Don't Know the Shape I'm In draws a hushed awe and Rip Torn was a moment of dishevelled brilliance. They also played a plaintive new song called Pianos, released to help raise money for the people in his hometown of Asheville, Carolina. Lenderman told the crowd that it was the first time in two months that the water was safe to drink there after Hurricane Helene.
It underlined the point he made in the encore. “There’s so much f***ed up shit in the world,” he said before playing a cover of Neil Young’s Lotta Love. “It feels like the world needs this right now.” That moment of communal hope signalled the end of the show – but not before Tastes Just Like It Cost, a song about how a silly argument between a couple about wearing a “dumb hat” to dinner reveals an unspoken fault line in their relationship. The mundane and the profound indeed.
