MJ LENDERMAN Manning Fireworks (Anti-) — It’s almost tangible, the feeling of MJ Lenderman chipping away at the meaning of this modern, mixed-up life with his guitar on his new solo LP, Manning Fireworks. Like direct predecessors John Darnielle and Conor Oberst, no topic is too obscure and no emotional vulnerability is too intimate to serve as fodder for Lenderman’s songwriting. On the country lament “Rip Torn,” Lenderman sings about a boozy companion: “You need to drink some water/ It’ll kill the need to puke/ You need to learn/ How to behave in groups.” The specificity and bluntness of the lyrics gives the song a worldweary quality that’s enhanced by Lenderman’s focused yet mildly reticent delivery. There’s a sense that his songwriting is a necessary escape that requires open-hearted sharing to truly achieve freedom. Lenderman could probably get by with a stripped-down, Rick Rubin–style spareness to the production (he shares those studio duties with Alex Farrar), but he’s a rocker at his core. “Wristwatch” is grounded in classic roots rock, “Rudolph” hangs heavy like a slow moving downpour, and “On My Knees” is a thumper filled with chewy guitars. Abum closer “Bark at the Moon” gives over more than half of its ten-minute to a lengthy, distorted guitar solo, like Lenderman wanted to put the two sides of Neil Young’s Arc-Weld together in a single song. On Manning Fireworks, Lenderman really does have it all figured out. Ooh and ahh at the following tracks: the title cut, “Joker Lips,” “She’s Leaving You,” and “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In.”

HINDS Viva Hinds (Lucky Number) — It was ten years ago that Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote introduced themselves as Hinds to the rest of the world with the two-song release DEMO. Shortly after that, the band expanded to a four-piece and released a series of fine albums stocked with catchy, crunchy, properly perturbed rock tunes. The ebb and flow of the music business has pare the Hinds roster back down to the duo, so the new album Viva Hinds serves as a reintroduction. It’s appropriate then that the album opens with a tangy, punk-pumped cut titled “Hi, How Are You.” In general, Hinds takes the reboot as opportunity to explore some of their poppier sensibilities. “The Bed, the Room, the Rain and You” is reminiscent of earliest songs from the band James, and “On My Own” boings along with the throwback, reclaimed-girl-group charms of foundational efforts by the Bangles. Hinds call in some ringers to help fill out their two-person show; Beck offers guest vocals and puts his neon fingerprints all over “Boom Boom Back,” and Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten shows up on on the post-punk charmer “Stranger.” Even so, the album proves that Cosials and García Perrote are ready to the shoulder the responsibilities of the band just fine on their own. Viva Hinds indeed. In addition to the cuts already mentioned, cheer for the following: “Superstar,” “Coffee,” and “Bon Voyage.”