MJ Lendermanhas no idea where to go.
Its mid-July and downtown Durham,North Carolina, is hot and empty.
The first bar we try is closed, so now were searching Google Maps for another.
Making his new album, Lenderman says, “I really felt less confident than before. I also knew people were gonna hear it.”
The Pour Taproom looks kind of bright in there, he says with deadpan concern.
Theres a swanky, sophisticated cocktail bar; that looks OK… Irish pub?
After a pause and a shrug, we settle on the pub.
Durham is not where I expected to meet Lenderman, 25.
He was born and raised about 220 miles west of here, in Asheville.
But earlier this year, everyone finally moved out.
The property was being sold.
This spring, the couple ended their relationship.
Now, Lendermans just kind of floating, treading time until he can find a place to settle.
Probably as early as seven years old, he says.
I havent really had much time to process.
As we walk towards the Irish pub, Lenderman and I start talking about Michael Jordan.
Last summer, Lenderman was reading Roland Lazenbys massive Jordan biography,Michael Jordan: The Life.
What Lazenbys book offered Lenderman amidst all this was a deep sense of unease.
That one was honestly pretty dark, he says.
It left me feeling kind of disturbed…
This time, its different.
I think he was cognizant of that, Lendermans manager, Rusty Sutton, tells me.
The news, in certain corners, was met withexcitement andmemes,mostlyof thedudes rock variety.
I just got this app, Beer Buddy.
Its just like, your boys post pics… Thats my social media right now.
Lendermans songwriting thrives on that kind of oblique specificity.
He checks all the boxes for me.
Lenderman does some of his best work while zoning out and watching TV with a guitar in his hand.
When he began recordingManning Fireworksin December 2022, though, he didnt have anything near a full album written.
In fact, he hadnt written much at all in a few years.
[Studios] were booked out months in advance, he remembers.
I hoped that by the time that came around, Id have something ready.
Those closest to him talk all about Lendermans talent as if its preternatural.
He knows it ahead of time.
He has a vision for it.
Sutton says affectionately that Lenderman tends to under-promise and over-deliver in the studio.
Hell be like, Maybe well get two or three songs, and then he sends me five.
But Lendermans experience ofManning Fireworkswas more fraught.
He felt like he had to relearn how to write.
It was hard to come back into, he says.
I really felt less confident than before.
I also knew people were gonna hear it.
It wasnt until halfway through that the record began to make sense to him.
But I could see him trying something truly new in the context of his music.
Hartzman could sense Lendermans frustration throughout the long, disjointed process of making this album.
But the thing is, he cant write a bad song.
AT VARIOUS POINTS as we talk, Lenderman and I spiral into comedy nerdery.
Bang!andWhitest Kids UKnow; and the career choices of Adam Sandler.
I have a huge amount of respect for comedians, he says.
Theyre just capital-SSongs,Lenderman says.
Having a good line for every chorus is basically the M.O.
He adds: Its funny in the same way Randy Newman is funny… Its very self-involved.
Its consistent with the other characters he plays.
Lendermans earlier songwriting which he describes as being very autobiographical, spilling my guts grew more character-driven after that.
Once a perfect little baby/Whos now a jerk, Lenderman sings.
Standing close to the pyre manning fireworks.
I ask Lenderman how much of himself he sees in his work now, and he says it depends.
Im not trying to go out there and sing about me being a bad person.
If youre doing something wrong, I dont think thats the healthiest way to attack that.
Its more like, what would you do in certain situations?
Maybe thats why people resonate with it, because theres a part of that there for everyone.
He pauses for a second, and then laughs.
I dont know, Im no expert.
Then he releases a tender Awooo!
I played it a lot with my friends, and it drove us to actually pick up real instruments.
Lendermans been playing music with his friends ever since.
After-school rock band programs and his church, first; then by high school, bands of his own.
Lenderman spent a year at UNC Asheville studying music before dropping out.
After leaving college in May 2018, he moved into a house in Haw Creek, near downtown Asheville.
The landlord, an exceptionally kind older man named Gary, lived nearby and didnt mind the noise.
The end of their romantic relationship this year has not strained their artistic one.
I think our relationship has always been, from the beginning, a strong creative partnership, Lenderman says.
Thats what happened with us.
But if he leaves the band, it wont be because of the break-up, Hartzman says.
There has to be a lot of change, Hartzman says.
Well see, but my favorite version of the band is gonna have him in it forever.
Everyone was dating, making records, spending every second together at home or on tour.
Its an unhinged concept, she says of playing in a band.
They navigate it like adults.
Theyre really trying to preserve what theyre doing.
Because the stakes are clear.
Im not willing to sacrifice any of that for any petty bullshit.
Even though romantically our situation isnt forever.
Lenderman adds: Weve gone through some of the hardest physically and mentally things together.
And that bonds us to each other, like family.
And how to hold your friends to that, too.
Though bittersweet, Lenderman was ready to leave.
Ive never been anywhere else, he says.
I could use a change.
In Durham, before we scour Google Maps for a bar, we scour Google Maps for coffee.
Lenderman, still jet-lagged from his trip to Italy, needs caffeine.
If we were in Asheville, Id probably have a better idea of what to do, he says.
My housing situation is messy.
I just dont have any time to figure out a new place.
Whens that gonna be?
I have no idea.
Ive never been in this situation in my life.
(Kinda selfishly, he notes, its also the only time he gets to play drums anymore.)
But he also knows well enough its a balancing act.
And it might not even be a bad idea.
Every time Lenderman starts to write a song, he gets a little freaked out, he says.
Or maybe not freaked out.
It just feels like re-learning it every time.
But at the same time, this is art were talking about.
The doubts must be immense.
I feel that 100 percent, he says.
I felt it a lot when making the record.
I dont know how to deal with it.
