Last year, the former Wednesday guitarist Mark Jacob Lenderman released Manning Fireworks, his breakout solo LP. It was one of our favorite albums of 2024, and it turned Lenderman into an indie-level star. "Wristwatch," the single that arrived just before Manning Fireworks, might be the most quotable song that Lenderman has yet released. It's also the one with the most Spotify streams. When Lenderman made his late-night solo-act debut on The Tonight Show, "Wristwatch" was the song that he played. And now, Lenderman's got a "Wristwatch" music video.
For the "Wristwatch" clip, MJ Lenderman worked with veteran director Lance Bangs, of Jackass, Odd Future, and "being married to Corin Tucker" fame. There's a little bit of Jackass in the "Wristwatch" video. Lenderman drives a series of too-tall trucks around Durham in golden-hour light, and he keeps fucking up in the same way over and over, with chaotic results for his friends. If you enjoy watching trucks get stuck under low bridges, you'll have a good time with this one. Lenderman is listed as part of the stunt team, which is fun. Here's what Bangs says about the video:
I had been drawn to make things with Jake for a while, and spent the late summer listening to the songs that would make up Manning Fireworks. The imagery of characters caught in persistence without progress that has recurred in his writing was there in “Wristwatch,” and that song was the one I went back to the most while listening to the batch of recordings. I had seen low-clearance bridges in this part of North Carolina in my past travels, a mismatch between the train trestles that were built in the first half of the 20th Century and the modern 13ft height of most tractor trailers. Durham has a notorious one called the "Canopener" that is featured on a website and Youtube channel 11foot8.com by Jurgen Henn, who has captured 186 crashes sinceApril of 2008. I took measurements and designed plans to add a few more crashes to Jurgen’s tally.
Check it out below.
Manning Fireworks is out now on Anti-.
