| Boat Songs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 29, 2022 | |||
| Studio | Drop of Sun, Asheville, North Carolina | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 33:40 | |||
| Label | Dear Life | |||
| Producer | MJ Lenderman | |||
| MJ Lenderman chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Boat Songs | ||||
| ||||
Boat Songs is the third solo album by American musician MJ Lenderman. It was released on April 29, 2022, by Dear Life Records. [1] The album was listed on several publications' lists of the best albums of 2022.
On January 25, 2022, Stereogum managing editor Chris DeVille announced the release date of the album alongside the music video for "Hangover Game," comparing the album to Jason Molina, Uncle Tupelo, and Pinegrove. [2] In March, Stereogum senior editor Tom Breihan posted the music video for second single "TLC Cage Match." The song is named after the tables, ladders, and chairs WWE match style, which it uses as a metaphor for self-destructive behavior. [3]
On April 29, 2022, Boat Songs was released on Dear Life Records via Bandcamp in digital form, CD, vinyl, and cassette. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork | 8.3/10 [4] |
| Uncut |   [5] |
Sasha Geffen at Pitchfork praised Lenderman's alt-country songwriting for its "disarming insights into the fray of living" delivered with fuzzy, lo-fi distortion, "loping, lackadaisical melodic phrasing," and "gentle, unhurried deadpan." [4] Dillon Riley, writing for Flood Magazine, characterized Lenderman's writing as economical, yet low-brow compared to the more literary writing of his Wednesday bandmate Karly Hartzman. [6] Uncut's Erin Osmon described Boat Songs with comparisons to John Prine, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and Drive-By Truckers's Patterson Hood, praising Lenderman's "refreshing and thoroughly unpretentious perspective" that, by imbuing working-class signifiers with depth and importance, blurs the boundary between high and low art. [5]
| Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| The A.V. Club | Here Are the 30 Best Albums of 2022 | 27 | [7] |
| The Alternative | The Alternative's Top 50 Albums of 2022 | 4 | [8] |
| The Bitter Southerner | The Best Southern Albums of 2022 | 9 | [9] |
| Consequence | Top 50 Albums of 2022 | 49 | [10] |
| Paste | The 50 Best Albums of 2022 | 10 | [11] |
| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2022 | 35 | [12] |
| The Ringer | The 33 Best Albums of 2022 | 12 | [13] |
| Rolling Stone | The 100 Best Albums of 2022 | 98 | [14] |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2022 | 11 | [15] |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hangover Game" | MJ Lenderman | 2:16 |
| 2. | "You Have Bought Yourself a Boat" | Lenderman | 2:51 |
| 3. | "TLC Cage Match" | Lenderman | 3:52 |
| 4. | "Toontown" | Lenderman, Andrew James | 3:56 |
| 5. | "SUV" | Lenderman | 1:57 |
| 6. | "Under Control" | Lenderman | 2:19 |
| 7. | "Dan Marino" | Lenderman | 2:15 |
| 8. | "You Are Every Girl to Me" | Lenderman | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Tastes Just Like It Costs" | Lenderman | 3:47 |
| 10. | "Six Flags" | Lenderman | 6:36 |
| Total length: | 33:40 | ||
Credits adapted from the album's Bandcamp release page. [1]
Stereogum is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
Girlpool was an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed by friends Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad. Their debut self-titled EP Girlpool was released on Bandcamp in 2014 and re-released on Wichita Recordings later that year. They released their debut album Before the World Was Big in 2015, followed by Powerplant (2017) and What Chaos Is Imaginary (2019). Their fourth and final studio album, Forgiveness (2022), was released on April 29. In August 2022, the duo announced that they will be taking an indefinite break from the band.
Nicole Ann Bell, known professionally as Nicole Dollanganger, is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and artist.
Samuel Thompson Herring, known professionally as Samuel T. Herring and Hemlock Ernst, is an American singer, rapper and actor from Baltimore, Maryland. He best known as the frontman of the synth-pop band Future Islands, with whom he has recorded six studio albums. He has also previously been a member of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, The Snails, and Trouble Knows Me.
Impersonator is the third studio album by Canadian pop duo Majical Cloudz, released on May 21, 2013, by Matador Records and Mythryl Records. It was their first album on Matador after signing with the label in February 2013. It was also the group's first album to feature producer Matthew Otto as a member, following the departure of Matthew E. Duffy after the release of II in 2011.
EP2 is the second extended play by Korean-American electronic musician Kathy Yaeji Lee, known by her stage name as Yaeji. It was released on November 3, 2017 by the label Godmode, and produced by Lee with Godmode founder Nick Sylvester. A trap and house record, it features a cover of the song "Passionfruit" by Canadian rapper Drake. Promoted with three singles and two music videos, one of which Lee directed, EP2 garnered favorable reviews from critics and was ranked the best album of the year by Gorilla vs. Bear. Commercially, the EP hit No. 5 on Billboard's American Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart.
Raw Silk Uncut Wood is a mini-album by Berlin-based American electronic musician Laurel Halo, released on July 13, 2018, through Latency Recordings. It consists of six ambient instrumental tracks.
Paraffin is the third studio album by American hip hop group Armand Hammer. It was released via Backwoodz Studioz in 2018. Originally released on vinyl only, the album was later released digitally, on cassette, and on CD.
Have We Met is the twelfth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer, released on January 31, 2020, by Merge Records and Dead Oceans.
Pinegrove, an American rock band, have released five studio albums, five live albums, one compilation album, three extended plays (EPs), fourteen singles, and five music videos.
Black Dresses are a Canadian noise pop duo consisting of Ada Rook and Devi McCallion, formed in 2017. Their debut album, Wasteisolation, was released independently in 2018. The duo released three additional albums, Thank You (2019), Love and Affection for Stupid Little Bitches (2019), and Peaceful as Hell (2020), before breaking up in 2020 in response to harassment received by McCallion. Despite maintaining their declaration of disbandment in 2020, Black Dresses has released two additional albums, Forever in Your Heart (2021) and Forget Your Own Face (2022).
Peaceful as Hell is the fourth studio album by Canadian noise pop duo Black Dresses. It was released on April 13, 2020, the two-year anniversary of their first studio album Wasteisolation, under Blacksquares Records. It was preceded by the lead single of the album "Creep U" which was released on April 7. The album was the duo's last album before their announced disbandment in May 2020 due to harassment of the band following their unexpected success on platforms such as TikTok. Despite this, they released a follow-up record, Forever in Your Heart, the following year.
Wasteisolation is the debut studio album by Canadian noise pop duo Black Dresses, released on April 13, 2018.
Will Kraus, known mononymously as Kraus, is an American shoegaze musician. In 2021, Carly Wu of Far Out Magazine elected his second studio album Path as the 18th best shoegaze album of all time.
Twin Plagues is the third studio album by American quintet Wednesday, released by Orindal Records in August 2021.
Wednesday is an American rock band from Asheville, North Carolina, currently signed to Dead Oceans. The band consists of vocalist Karly Hartzman, guitarist Jake Lenderman, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, drummer Alan Miller and bassist Ethan Baechtold. Wednesday was formed in 2017 as Karly Hartzman's personal songwriting project.
Path is the second studio album by American shoegaze musician Kraus. It was released on March 9, 2018, via Terrible Records.
God Save the Animals is the ninth studio album by American musician Alex G, released on September 23, 2022, by Domino Recording Company. It was produced by Alex G and Jacob Portrait and recorded at various studios in Philadelphia and the northeast United States. It was promoted by four singles including "Blessing" and "Runner". It received acclaim from critics, appearing on various lists of 2022's best albums, and charted on the US Billboard 200 as well as in New Zealand and Scotland.
Rat Saw God is the fifth studio album by American rock band Wednesday, released by Dead Oceans on April 7, 2023.
Mark Jacob Lenderman, also known as Jake Lenderman is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Asheville, North Carolina. He has released three albums, and also plays with the alternative rock band Wednesday. He also has played drums for Indigo De Souza. His album Boat Songs was listed by several publications as one of the best of 2022.
