Wednesday ‘Bleeds’ Review: Straddling the Divide Between Raw and Reasoned

From the angry clamor of “Bull Believer” to the genial indie stylings of “Quarry,” both from 2023’s Rat Saw God, Wednesday thrives on extremes. In a similar vein, the Asheville band’s no less fresh and volatile follow-up, Bleeds, veers between well-oiled honky-tonk and aggressive, battered guitar rock, with, for example, the painfully pretty “The Way Love Goes” followed only two tracks later by the screamo assault of “Wasp.”

The first minute of the album’s opening track, “Reality TV Argument Bleeds,” is perhaps the most quintessentially Wednesday music to date. A slow crescendo of feedback-ensconced guitar keeps building until Karly Hartzman unleashes a scream and the band finally takes flight on the back of a squealing guitar riff. Most importantly, this is a group that never neglects the necessity of a solid hook amid all its sturm und drang.

Hartzman, Wednesday’s singer and primary songwriter, and MJ Lenderman, the band’s guitarist, ended their romantic relationship shortly before recording Bleeds. Lenderman also announced he would cease touring with the band. This is all probably a good explanation for why, compared to Rat Saw God, there’s even more of a stylistic dividing line here, largely between grungy rock songs like “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” and country-rock tunes like the breezy “Elderberry Wine,” which could have fit right in on Lenderman’s Manning Fireworks.

One element tying everything together is Hartzman’s knack for melodies that zig and zag all over the scale in wonderfully unexpected ways. She’s an incredibly expressive vocalist, often fearlessly pushing her range to its limits, like when she follows the roaming guitar riff at the end of “Townies” or tears her throat to shreds during the coda of “Pick Up That Knife.” She’s the perfect singer for a band that never deigns to obscure neither their ugliest inner turmoil nor their most tender feelings.