As Wednesday, one of the more exciting rock bands to emerge in the 2020s, entered their latest album, the band was surrounded by a whole lot of noise. With guitarist MJ Lenderman’s solo career skyrocketing to new heights, the critical buzz built by the band’s 2023 album, and interpersonal romantic relationships coming to a close, the band’s uniquely vulnerable approach to modern southern rock wasn’t the loudest thing on the band’s mind. Having your personal life put on display and your art dissected is never a part of a child’s rock star dreams, but Wednesday found themselves in the middle of both when they began writing Bleeds, their anticipated new record.
These twelve songs pack in the complexity and challenging nature of the wide-ranging emotions felt by a band on the cusp of a career breakthrough and personal collapse. Bleeds is a full cathartic release for both Wednesday and the listener, as the band creates a jam-packed tracklist that sheds raw honesty, imaginative imagery, and artistic maturity over warped distortion. The band is performing as if writing and recording these songs were the only way to differentiate dreams from reality, the only way the members of Wednesday can feel any real emotions during a tumultuous yet celebratory time. As career goals are reached and personal worlds are altered, Bleeds acts as a deeply personal journal entry from a band attempting to maintain a sense of self.
Even while carrying the emotional weight of the band members, Bleeds never sounds like it is complaining. These emotional releases are not fits of anger with aimless scopes set on vague targets; Wednesday was able to hone their recent experiences into whatever flavor of Southern rock they deemed fit. Vocalist and primary lyricist Karly Hartzman defines herself as one of the most electrifying frontpeople in modern music, as her words and performances single-handedly elevate Wednesday to new heights. Not to take anything away from the rest of the band, as they put together some wildly intricate and impressive arrangements, like on the noisy “Wasp” or the twangy, lo-fi bounce of “Phish Pepsi,” but Hartzman’s poetic lyrics and acrobatic vocals prove to be the star of Bleeds.
Wednesday gets a lot off their chest on their latest album, but it isn’t presented as such. Hartzman’s approach to narrative-driven rock is an immersive and loose one, allowing the stories that fill Bleeds to play as whimsical fantasy. The distorted explosions of “Candy Breath” bring the listener into a rocky relationship, while the wistful, slow-burning “Carolina Murder Suicide” details a gross scene and the aftermath of trauma. It is in these moments that the listener finds themselves lost in the world of Wednesday, but it isn’t all bleak realities on Bleeds. “Townies” brings the faces you pass by to life over sleek, shining guitars, while “Bitter Everyday” romantically emphasizes the growing pains of the band.
Bleeds does exactly that, and in more ways than one. Not only is Wednesday’s new LP an honest snapshot of a band that is running into more hardships the closer they get to their dreams, but it also highlights the evolving approach the band is bringing to their art. Whether they’re prolonging a heartbreak by clutching false hopes on “Wound Up Here (By Holding On)” or highlighting their natural grasp on Southern rock balladry, like on the album’s closer “Gray’s II,” Wednesday confirms what most already knew: this band is hellbent on being one of the more daring and beloved rock acts of their time.
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Good!