MJ Lenderman writes songs that are amorphous and elastic, rising to fill the venue they’re in, generous to accommodate the number of players on stage, less concerned with replicating the studio version than they are with meeting the crowd where they’re at On “And the Wind (Live and Loose!)” the Asheville-based MJ Lenderman handles most of the playing, but with The Wind, it’s a multi-headed beast.
This isn’t just MJ Lenderman playing songs from his “Ghost of Your Guitar” (2021) and “Boat Songs“ (2022) live as they appear on the album; this is the breakthrough Asheville singer-songwriter giving extra vigour and vitality to those songs on stage through energetic re-imaginings and a hearty backing band that includes fellow Wednesday bandmates Ethan Baechtold (bassist) and Xandy Chelmis (pedal steel guitar/tamborine).
His often sparse and lo-fi songs are now caffeinated, full-band jams and grooves that rollick from one to the next. There’s a whole new dimension to the distorted, whisper-quiet “Live Jack”, while the sober “Catholic Priest” works better with its added instrumental expression.
Never once does this collection of amped-up performances, recorded in Chicago’s Lincoln Hall and Los Angeles’ Lodge Room in 2023, feel anything other than ‘in the moment’. This is a very present live album worth not only hearing but also owning.
This live album is culled from sold-out summer 2023 shows on a brief headline run during what some might call a wild-ass couple of months. It captures a near-euphoric moment in time – dizzying and exhausting and, most of all, having some real true-blue fucking fun with your best friends. It’s 90s college rock meets Americana hootenanny, an electrifying piece of the MJ Lenderman lore that needs to be experienced live with a light beer in-hand but in the interim, “And the Wind (Live and Loose!)” does its best to commit the scene to tape.
Anyone who was enrapt in the widespread critical acclaim of 2024’s breakthrough indie hit LP “Manning Fireworks” will no doubt want to check out the ragged glory of Lenderman’s 2023 live album, previously available only as a limited-edition cassette and making its debut on vinyl for RSD. Recorded while on tour in support of his 2022 studio debut “Boat Songs”, this 15-song set bristles with pure electricity and spirit. And in addition to his own original tunes that reference Jack Nicholson, Lightning McQueen and Dan Marino, Lenderman delivers a righteous rendition of the seminal murder ballad “Long Black Veil” that’s more Pavement than The Band.
The Fat Angel Sings 