The Tender Evolution of MJ Lenderman

“What else can you say to help a friend with a broken heart?” MJ Lenderman asks in “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In,” near the end of Manning Fireworks. It’s another quotable, coolly conversational line from a songwriter quickly becoming renowned for them. But something is different this time. Throughout his songbook, the 25-year-old Asheville, North Carolina musician has guided us through pivotal fights outside fancy meat shops; bad moods wafting through costume parties; glimpses of mortality in late-career pro wrestling matches. We turn to him in these environments less for piercing insight than for a sympathetic set of eyes. I know, dude, he seems to say from across the room, beer in hand.

Now, he’s as helpless as anyone. The music helps convey the feeling, too. While he’s often backed by a crunchy, comforting blend of alt-country and ’90s indie rock, “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In” boasts one of his prettiest, dreamiest, and most surprising arrangements. Even he seems moved by it, taking time to comment on the instruments conjured in the swirl—“Clarinet! Singing its lonesome duck walk”—and offering a wordless “whoa oh oh” to suit the breezy rhythm. Two years ago, when an early version of the song appeared on a compilation, it felt buzzier and slightly more conventional. Working with producer Alex Farrar and his familiar accompanists from his backing band the Wind, he now creates own lush world to explore. It’s a little luxurious, a little busted, a lot more lonely.