I get the most out of “Wristwatch,” with its descending riffs giving way to Xandy’s pedal steel on top of the guitar lead. The lyrics open with “So you say I’ve got a funny face/It makes me money” which conjures up a character misquoting Quiet Riot’s 1983 cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize.” Lenderman excels at characters that come across as guys not getting it right, low-key committed to not quite understanding. A denseness, a hapless but easily seen wrongheadedness. Doubling down on not wising up.
