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Boat Songs

by MJ Lenderman

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      $9 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Pressed by Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, NC. Design by Jon Samuels

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boat Songs via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 15 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boat Songs via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Hat + Digital Album

    MJ Lenderman hat with embroidered patch

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boat Songs via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $30 USD or more 

     

  • Boat Songs CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    designed by Jon Samuels

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boat Songs via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • Limited Edition Clear Blue Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    records pressed by Softwax in Philadelphia, PA. Image is an approximation

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boat Songs via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas for shoes But Nike gave him an offer that he could not refuse It wasn’t a pizza that poisoned him in Utah With the hotel bill to prove Three thousand dollars on just five dudes I bought fake Jordans They weren’t even shoes Oh he looked so sick It was all over the news But it wasn’t the pizza and it wasn’t The flu Yeah i love drinking too I love drinking too
2.
It’s plain to me to see You have bought yourself a boat Since the last time you and me spoke Your laundry looks so pretty Soft threads hanging and relaxing in the wind You’ll feel so much better When you wear these clothes again The waves ruin the beach house Every year on your birthday They gave this hurricane your human name How many more bug bites And other subtle misfortunes can I withstand tonight? Someone snuck their mothballs in my headlights The neighbors are cussing And throwing shit in the yard While echoes of the minor leagues Tumble down the road
3.
It’s hard to see you fall like that Though I know how much of it’s an act In this tables, ladders, and chairs match Where all things go Like your shoulders, your hips, and knees They all hurt you They will work you Just need to take some of these And all things go That’s why you do what you gotta do Just to get through And I know life will make you crazy I do Now it’s not the same as when we were boys The playful way we would destroy Half naked taking steroids And watch us go I always believed you every time you said You were gonna be like our heroes someday Well, baby All our heroes now are dead Cause all things go That’s why we do what we gotta do Just to get through And I know life will make us crazy I do And i know why we get fucked up I know why we get so fucked up I know why we get so fucked up I do It’s hard to see you fall so flat From so high up hard down on the matt In this battle royale cage match Where all things go
4.
Toontown 03:56 video
Toontown frown I’m your beat down rodeo clown With his pants pulled down Faded face paint smile Leave the end on simmer for a while Did you find my Disney World? Did it make you dizzy, girl? When it fell apart, Did it break your heart? Now I’m crying in the bathroom Of our dying world in a vacuum Still trying to be funny You can see right through me Honey Toontown frown Just some watered down romeo clown With his pants pulled down Did you find my Disney World? Did it make you dizzy, girl? When it fell apart, Did it break your heart?
5.
SUV 01:57
I still have the key To your boyfriend’s SUV I keep it by my bed Like a picture of you and me You caught me in my bathrobe You caught me on my knees You caught me on my weekend Catching up on my TV My TV
6.
I had it under control I had it under control And then it snow balled And rolled and rolled and rolled And I don’t have control anymore Can’t say I didn’t know But sometimes you get so alone I’d always seen the corner And still I stubbed my toe Can’t say I didn’t know Don’t remind me Don’t remind me What I already know Don’t remind me Don’t remind me I know I got my wheels in a ditch There’s a word for this For what used to scratch the itch And then some day it quit Ain’t that a bitch
7.
Dan Marino 02:15
My daddy saw Dan Marino At a Harris Teeter In South Carolina By the shore He hustled his balls And looked at a cereal box He did not see his face Brady’s has replaced Tom Brady’s has replaced But I think big Dan will be alright For he’s a hall of famer The next day we saw dolphins From a friend of ours boat From a friend of ours boat We saw dolphins From our friends boat
8.
Pretty little puddle In Miami blue Huge water slide Into a drained out Community swimming pool Seed fell out of the feeder And the birds are eating on the ground Jackass is funny Like the Earth is round Rogan’s home for the holidays The conversations are good And the dinners are great If only for being homemade I bought you a shirt From the local merch at the airport Gave it to you and screamed “You are every girl to me”
9.
You know I’m no hardass You know I couldn’t be less But what did I tell you About wearing that dumb hat? You know the one I’m talking about On the sidewalk By the butcher shop Where we bought our expensive meat That we had planned to eat On the sidewalk by the butcher shop You screamed and I tripped You screamed and I tripped Mmmmm honey It tastes just like it costs
10.
Six Flags 06:36
Dripping wet From the log ride Insecure from the car ride Destroyed by your love On a string On the spinning swings Where no one could notice No one could notice I have never Felt alone The way I did At the Six Flags over Texas I’m not counting I’m not counting No one’s counting Your mistakes

about

Jake Lenderman lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He plays guitar in the indie band Wednesday, sometimes fishes on the Pigeon River, and creates his own music as MJ Lenderman. His latest solo release with Dear Life Records is titled Boat Songs. Lenderman describes the album as his most “polished” sound to date, built around songs that “chase fulfillment and happiness”—whether that means buying a boat, drinking too much, or watching seeds fall from the bird feeder.

Boat Songs is the followup to Lenderman’s 2021 label debut, Ghost of Your Guitar Solo, and subsequent release, Knockin’, with Dear Life Records, both of which were critically acclaimed for their off-the-cuff alternative country sound. But with Boat Songs, Lenderman emerges confident as ever, an innovative yet unassuming artist, straightforward and true.

Recorded at Asheville’s Drop of Sun with Alex Farrar and Colin Miller, Boat Songs is the first album Lenderman made in a professional studio. WWE matches and basketball games were silently projected on the studio walls during recording sessions. And you can hear their power in these ten unapologetically lo-fi tracks, each brimming with pent-up energy and the element of surprise.

A clavichord honks throughout ‘You Have Bought Yourself A Boat’ with the playfulness of a live Dylan/Band set. ‘SUV’ screams with My Bloody Valentine distortion. When Xandy Chelmis beautifully bends his steel guitar on ‘TLC Cage Match’ you can't help but think of Gram Parsons. And ‘Tastes Just Like It Costs’ howls with the intensity of Crazy Horse era Neil Young. Boat Songs is fearless and it’s exciting. It challenges the perception of what modern day country music is supposed to be and where it can go.

But no matter where Boat Songs goes sonically, the album is deeply rooted in Lenderman’s natural gifts as a storyteller. Someone once asked Hank Williams what made country music successful and he said, “One word: sincerity.” Filled with everyday observations ripped straight from his journal, Lenderman’s lyrics are sincere in their absurdities, with the vulnerability and honesty of Jason Molina and Daniel Johnston. There are moments of humor (‘Jackass is funny like the Earth is round’), admission (‘I know why we get so fucked up’), and recognition of beauty others might not stop to see (‘Your laundry looks so pretty...relaxing in the wind’). Read alone on the page, ‘Hangover Game,’ ‘You Have Bought Yourself A Boat,’ and ‘Dan Marino,’ stand out as perfect little poems, unpretentious and real. Simply said, these songs are unforgettable.

Or you could also say it like this: listening to Boat Songs by MJ Lenderman is like joining your best friends out on the porch. The neighbors might be yelling and the bugs might be biting. But y’all are shooting the shit and letting loose, telling the same old stories again and again. But it don’t matter how many times you’ve heard them, because they're from the heart—and in the end they always make you feel alive again.

--Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

credits

released April 29, 2022

All songs written by MJ Lenderman except for Toontown, written by MJ Lenderman and Andrew James

All instruments played by MJ Lenderman except for bass, keys, and trumpet played by Colin Miller
And Pedal steel by Xandy Chelmis

Guitars on You Are Every Girl To Me played by Alex Farrar and Lewis Dahm

Back up vocals by Karly Hartzman and Colin Miller

Recorded and mixed by Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun in Asheville, NC
Produced by MJ Lenderman with help from Alex Farrar and Colin Miller
Mastered by Colin Miller

Album art by Andrew James, layout by Jon Samuels for Dear Life Records

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