The secret of MJ Lenderman’s guitar playing: “I think I’d like to try that”
Many will have come to know MJ Lenderman as the guitarist in the Asheville, North Carolina band Wednesday, whose Rat Saw God album proved to be one of 2023’s defining indie-rock albums. The year previous, Lenderman – known to his friends as Jake – released his breakthrough solo album Boat Songs.
With his fourth solo outing coming by way of the nine-track collection Manning Fireworks in September 2024, the 25-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. He remains in Wednesday, having amicably split from its frontwoman, Karly Hartzman. Following a US tour with the band in the autumn of ‘24, he then kicked off a solo jaunt across Europe with his band he dubs “The Wind”, not to mention stints as a sideman for acts such as Waxahatchee and Indigo de Souza.
“I’ve never seen the Mona Lisa / I’ve never really left my room / I’ve been up too late with Guitar Hero,” Lenderman sings on ‘Bark at The Moon’ taken from Manning Fireworks – humorously reminiscent of the video game he cites as being his first entry point to discovering the instrument that would go on to shape his career. Soon after, he became entranced by Jimi Hendrix, noting: “Like everybody, first was Jimi Hendrix when I was a kid,” the singer-songwriter told Far Out. “I really loved him.”
What followed was a tidal wave of discovery for a young starry-eyed Lenderman – from J Mascis to Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus, whom he describes as a “really good guitarist”, from Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth to Derek Trucks – “I stopped using a pick when I was really young because I loved him.”
From the very first pluck of guitar string that opens Manning Fireworks, simultaneously the album’s title track, Lenderman doesn’t shy away from the country-tinged nuances of his approach to indie rock. Rural tones of the pedal steel guitar are heard throughout the album and, at times, are met with a chaotic and distorted sound synonymous with grunge. Lenderman recalled listening to Drive-By Truckers while creating the album and recognises the country-rock influence they had on him. “I also got into Tom Petty for the first time while making the album,” he continues. “I had read Shakey, the Neil Young biography, so I was really deep into Neil before recording the record. And also the Lemmonheads; I’d never really listened to them before.”
With the surge in interest in country music in recent years, Lenderman surmises in an interview with Brooklyn Vegan, “Maybe there’s a little bit of a rebellion. I feel like, growing up, you’d ask people what kind of music they like, and they’d say, ‘Oh, everything but country.’ And I think part of me feels like, ‘Well, you’re ignoring a lot. That’s a really broad statement.’” After pausing, he adds, “But I don’t really know.”
There’s a strong sense of authenticity to Lenderman and his work. Throughout his musical development, and subsequently his music, it seems Lenderman has maintained a thirst for unbiased learning, an unapologetic curiosity. Regardless of trends or external opinions, he will gift new influences and ideas their deserved time and space and absorb what resonates with him. Here lies the opportunity for an artist to carve out his own distinct, informed, but reinvigorated sound. Lenderman cultivates the terrain laid down by the greats of yesteryear as well as allied contemporaries and celebrates with his own nourishing harvest.
While music theory has served as a “useful tool” too, practice is something else that, you can assume, has always come somewhat natural to someone so passionate about learning from so many. In discussing social media and the impact it’s had on attention spans, Lenderman acknowledges the effect it has had on him, commenting: “I noticed my attention span just getting really bad, and my ability to read a book. It’s like a muscle you have to exercise.” Thankfully, since his nascent years, his admiration and dedication to exercising guitar playing have never faltered.
Comfortable in his shoes, Lenderman has no plans to modernise his sound with synthesisers and drum machines. “It would take me a lot of time to give into that,” he concluded. “My brain doesn’t necessarily go there. I think I’ll probably continue making guitar music, and I think it’d be fun eventually to make a record with a band instead of just mostly by myself. I think I’d like to try that.”
