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MJ Lenderman review – a shooting star from the American south

Showcasing new album Manning Fireworks, the North Carolina indie rising star seals his reputation as a slacker guitar hero who knows exactly what he’s doing

While small artists everywhere are struggling – streaming poverty, the shuttering of entry-sized venues, Brexit regulations – Asheville, North Carolina’s Lenderman is defying this bear market by surging inexorably upwards. Manning Fireworks, released last September, has been enthusiastically taken up by his peer group, seduced by Lenderman’s crunchy guitar and offbeat aperçus, as well an older audience keen on his source materials; it’s likely to be placed high up on many end-of-year lists. Most fans will have initially come across Lenderman as the guitarist in the Asheville band Wednesday, whose Rat Saw God album cut like a hot knife through indie rock butter last year.

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