On reflection it’s always wild when albums about loneliness, isolation, and self flagellation end up becoming monumental hits. That old idea of the specific being universal clangs through the entirety of Manning Fireworks, an album about weighing the pros and cons of solitude in the shadow of heartbreak. But the joy of an MJ Lenderman record is that all of this is q-tipped through your ears with hooks that refuse to leave you, guitars both intimate and fuzzed out, and lines like “I got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome” and “draining cum from hotel showers” that transcend surface level absurdity and become anthems for many of us trying to pick themselves right back up again, if that’s even what we want or can even attempt. We wake up, go to work, navigate oblivion and beauty with equal measure, and listen to Ozzy Osbourne. Jake Lenderman does this, and we all do it too. Turn it up.