\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSay I wanna have your baby\/\u2018Cause I freckle and you tan.\u201d It\u2019s a startlingly great couplet that\u2019s been rattling inside our heads all summer, ever since Wednesday previewed their new album, Bleeds<\/em>, with the single \u201cElderberry Wine<\/a>\u201d in May. Some might tell their partner, \u201cI hope our kid gets your nose,\u201d but Karly Hartzman<\/a> takes it up a notch. Her lyrics are rooted in utter specificity and late-twenties realness, sounding tender and timeless across Xandy Chelmis\u2019 lap steel. \u201cI find comfort that angels don\u2019t give a damn,\u201d she sings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIf you think the honeyed ballad stands in stark contrast to the lead single on Wednesday\u2019s previous album (the ferocious, eight-minute \u201cBull Believer,\u201d from 2023\u2019s Rat Saw God<\/em><\/a>), that\u2019s intentional. When Wednesday guitarist MJ Lenderman<\/a> released the alt-country masterpiece Manning Fireworks<\/em><\/a> last year \u2014 and as a result rose to the level of Music Your Dad Has Heard Of \u2014 the band decided to capitalize on it, hoping to attract a wider fanbase. It worked<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBut Bleeds<\/em> \u2014 Wednesday\u2019s sixth album, made with their longtime producer, Alex Farrar \u2014 still contains the North Carolina band\u2019s original elements of fuzzy, feral shoegaze, like \u201cWasp,\u201d where Hartzman screams for a minute and 26 seconds. There\u2019s also sublime creek-rock, like the beautiful banger \u201cWound Up Here (By Holding On),\u201d which Hartzman described<\/a> as one of her favorites she\u2019s ever written (she screams on that, too). These shifting sonic landscapes, combined with Hartzman\u2019s fearless, razor-sharp lyrics, make for a wild Southern gothic odyssey \u2014 one you\u2019ll willingly take again and again, regardless of how dark it gets.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd Wednesday want it darker. Death is casual on Bleeds<\/em>, as are ghosts. \u201cYou sent my nudes around\/I never yelled at you about it cause you died,\u201d Hartzman sings on the euphoric rocker \u201cTownies\u201d (that last word sounds more like dieeeee-hihiiiiii<\/em>). Hartzman weaves a patchwork quilt of delicious dread \u2014 drowned football stars are found in shallow streams, bodies lay on the road, funerals are livestreamed, and some knife safety might be in order. There\u2019s even a track titled \u201cCarolina Murder Suicide,\u201d about the Murdaugh trial<\/a>. \u201cDeath is around at every point,\u201d Hartzman said<\/a>. \u201cIf you don\u2019t acknowledge that, you\u2019re lying.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n