‘Wristwatch’: MJ Lenderman’s study of the toxic capitalist male
MJ Lenderman’s latest album, Manning Fireworks, really is as explosive as the pyrotechnics in the title and is one that makes the listener gasp with more than a few ooh-s and ahh-s. The singer and guitarist has rapidly ascended to indie rock stardom with his last two solo efforts. He also moonlights as a member of the equally impressive group Wednesday.
Part slacker rock revival and part alt-country, the record has rightfully won fans over for how deft his songwriting is and how clearly he presents his influences and touchstones. It isn’t just about his musicality, though, as there are times when it can take a backseat on the record to allow his dry sense of humour to shine through in the lyrics.
One notable example of this on the record is on ‘Wristwatch’, which is Lenderman’s cutting takedown of an unfortunately common modern-day male archetype. In the song, the Asheville artist assumes the role of the boastful narrator who seemingly believes he has everything the world can give him and is desperate to show this off.
The constant flexing, with lines like “So you say I’ve got a funny face, it makes me money”, and the needy one-upmanship on display when he lists all the things his wristwatch can do, almost comes off as embarrassing and paints a picture of the narrator as being the sort of guy you’d want to avoid at social gatherings.
There’s also a predatory streak to the character Lenderman is portraying. The line at the end of the first chorus says he has a wristwatch “that tells me you’re all alone”, suggesting that he might be spying on someone using his technologically advanced timepiece or getting notified of where they are using some form of GPS tracking.
However, this portrayal of toxic masculinity begins to shift in the second verse, as his claims of what the wristwatch can do get increasingly absurd. It’s doubtful that it does have a pocket knife and a megaphone built in, but the extravagant posturing is all revealed to be a sham in the following line, where he subverts the closing line of the previous chorus and says how his wristwatch tells him he’s the one who is all alone.
The reason this stands out is it sums up the tragic nature of the insufferable protagonist; it’s all very well that he’s the owner of a gadget with all these flashy accessories and a “houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome”, but none of that is a worthy substitute for the fact he’s unable to find love or happiness. This ending to the song almost turns the song into a parable of sorts, akin to a story like Narcissus falling for his own reflection, complete with a moral to be followed and lessons to be learned.
If more men were able to take heed from MJ Lenderman’s lyrics, then we’d have far fewer people to complain about, but unfortunately our world is rife with individuals who care only about power, wealth and status, and of course, wristwatches that double as a multitool.
