Review Summary: Wednesday expand their palette even further with yet another masterpiece.
Wednesday is a band that has really burst on to the scene in recent years. Their first two albums,
I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone and
Twin Plagues, were masterclasses on how to take the lo-fi twang of alt-country and mix it with the hazy, reverb-laden guitar leads of shoegaze. Band leader Karly Hartzman, sadboy icon MJ Lenderman and the rest of the crew took a sound that has been done generically ad nauseam and put an atmospheric spin on it. Their true breakout came with 2023’s
Rat Saw God, an album that kept the same influences as the first two albums, but also added a dreary and melancholic slowcore essence to the jangle of the country sound.
So where would Wednesday go from there? It’s hard for any band to follow up a critically acclaimed masterpiece. Many bands call it quits and never even attempt to outdo themselves. It’s safe to say that these guys, and girl, weren’t afraid of failure because
Bleeds adds even more variety to their discography, and while it doesn’t quite outdo its predecessor, it’s damn near on par with it. Wednesday keeps their country and gazey core intact with the haze of the atmosphere in full effect, but that’s just the start of it.
We have a cavalcade of influences here from start to finish. The first two tracks start in typical, albeit extremely solid, shoegaze fashion, but ‘Wound Up Here (By Holdin’ On)’ is where the album really takes off. For the first time, Wednesday experiments with a more grungy, early 2000s alternative/pop rock type of sound, reminding me personally of one of my favorite albums of the 2000s,
The Spirit Room by Michelle Branch. The very next track, ‘Elderberry Wine’ is another highlight, doing a complete 180 by Wednesday’s standards, and diving head first into a warm indie folk summer anthem that makes you feel like the sun is shining brightly right on your face.
‘Phish Pepsi’ follows and completes the trio of songs that make up the best stretch of the whole incredible album. This track is my personal favorite, harkening back to the 60s psychedelic tidal wave a la Jefferson Airplane with drug-inducing guitars and acid-tripping melodies as Karly sings and wails her precious little heart out. Other highlights include ‘Wasp’, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Converge album with it’s sludgey, noisy and abrasively deafening crust punk edge, and the closer ‘Gary’s II’ which is the perfect way to close the album with its upbeat country twang and hallucinogenic mushroom type of organic atmosphere.
This band just keeps on expanding on their vast array of influences and it’s exactly the reason why they’ve been getting so much well-deserved praise. While
Bleeds may not have the monstrous impact of
Rat Saw God, it’s a truly glorious follow-up with just as many moments of brilliance. The inclusion of the indie folk and subtle crusty noise rock influences just further enhances what this band can do. At this point, they’ve released two classic albums in a row, and the crazy thing is, they’re still such a young band. Wednesday is truly special in the way that they can take genres that a lot of bands make boring and turn them into a sound that is truly unique, completely their own, and most importantly, engaging to listeners.
Bleeds is yet another fantastic addition to a discography that just keeps getting better.
