music reviews
Wednesday - Bleeds
Bleeds as an album is not just for fans of Wednesday's previous works, but for those who are craving something more authentic than the pop country of today, or for fans of shoegaze and indie rock who are looking for an interesting new twist on the genre.
Wednesday opens up their sixth studio album with pseudo-title track Reality TV Argument Bleeds. Its a perfect transition from the overall heavier previous album, Rat Saw God , starting with distorted guitars and a shriek from lead vocalist Karly Hartzman before its first verse, then flowing into the essential Wednesday sound that blurs together country, folk, and indie rock. They certainly don't forget their southern roots with tracks like "Phish Pepsi" and "Garys II" (both of which include lyrics involving Pepsi). Phish Pepsi isn't a new song from Wednesday, having made its original debut on Wednesday and MJ Lendermans EP Guttering , but this version is refined to a more easygoing, jangly, and nostalgic ballad. Gary's II leans into being a galloping narrative surrounding the titular Gary, who used to be Hartzman's eccentric landlord. But Wednesday never limits themselves to just being a 'countrygaze' band. Coming off of raspy screams and a fluid infectious guitar riff, in the outro of "Pick Up That Knife", is the short and sweet track "Wasp", a spiritual successor to the extra scream-y Bull Believer. Hartzman shows a range of screams in the hardcore inspired track, leaving the listener yearning for more. The rest of the band surrounds her vocals with a thrashy melody that reminds me of early Scowl. It's an addictive sound I hope to hear more of from the band in the future. Wednesday's not only strong in their heavy tracks though and this album showcases that, especially with lead single "Elderberry Wine", which is as sweet as its namesake with an undertone of melancholy in the closest thing to a love song off the album.
On Bleeds , the blending of genres becomes a strength, not a weakness. Wednesday is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. We see just that on the slowest track of the album, “Carolina Murder Suicide", a mournful ballad about just that, a Carolina murder suicide. It's a change of pace from the previous track, "Bitter Everyday", with its blooming buzzing guitars, but the two manage to flow into each other perfectly. Hartzman has an ability to handle death with such sincerity even on her more upbeat tracks--see "Wound Up Here (By Holdin on)" with its twang surrounding the iinsistenceof its title--but here the focus is all on Hartzman's picturesque lyrics and her vocals. They're stripped back, only being accompanied by a soft piano melody and some light fuzz tones, over which the singer contemplates if grief can break someone in half.
While Bleeds is not a breakup album the impact of lead singer Karly Hartzman and guitarist Jake 'MJ' Lenderman flows in the undertones of the album, with lyrics like, You reappear before I noticed you were gone in "Elderberry Wine" and Whether or not they know it / Everyone's divorced in "Candy Breath". But this most clearly informs the tear-jerking track, "The Way Love Goes". Hartzman has a knack for getting to the core of feelings in her songwriting; she certainly captures 'the way love goes' with her lyrics in this one, writing, Feel like I'm almost good enough / To know you, and I’m not as entertaining as / You might've thought I was then. They're delivered somberly with an equally melancholy melody to back, but hit like a punch in the gut for anyone who's experienced the fears of being in love with someone you feel you aren't good enough for. Hartzman writes for the women who are complicated, who aren't easy to love (and that isn't a bad thing), who are messy, for the ones who are doing it in the back of a SUV in some cul-de-sac underneath a dogwood tree, who smoke weed out of a Pepsi can, and for the ones who are everything society says they shouldn't be. “Townies” is another song that encapsulates this, with its lyrics, You had connects to get us high / And then you sent my nudes around . It's a typical Wednesday lyric, telling a story about the unspoken parts of an American youth, but with a twinge of darkness that's come to be part of the band's identity.
Wednesday as a band will define a generation of those who live outside American society's standards, they're just as much for the punks as they are for the cowboys. Look at their lyrics, and you'll see yourself in the patchwork of everything beautiful and tragic that is American, and that is human.