Wednesday - Bleeds - CD

"This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like," she said. "We've devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out-and I feel like we did." Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who's been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates-Xandy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake "M.J." Lenderman (guitar)-worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge.

More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism-not only it's tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman's masterfully subjective approach to detail selection. Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman's agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman's specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else's.  

Track Listing
1 Reality TV Argument
2 Bleeds
3 Townies
4 Wound Up Here (By Holdin on)
5 Elderberry Wine
6 Phish Pepsi
7 Candy Breath
8 The Way Love Goes
9 Pick Up That Knife
10 Wasp
11 Bitter Everyday
12 Carolina Murder Suicide
13 Gary's II