Ever since Pavement’s heyday in the ’90s, a certain kind of indie rock has had a good shot at scoring high with Pitchfork: delivered with noisy punk attitude, packed with big hooks, and marked by a playful, semi-ironic affinity for country and Southern rock. Following their already celebrated previous release Rat Saw God, it seems almost inevitable that Wednesday will earn another »Best New Music« label for their new album Bleeds.
Karly Hartzman and her four bandmates dial up both catchiness and country influences across the dozen new songs. They flirt with traditional arrangements (»Phish Pepsi«) or drift into near-ballad territory with »Elderberry Wine« and »The Way Love Goes«. Yet there’s still space for guitar feedback, pissed-off yelling (»Wasp«), and even a proper metal riff on »Pick Up That Knife«.
But the band’s greatest asset remains Hartzman’s lyrics – sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always clever. They stick with you, not just because of their detail, but because of the details themselves: A friend livestreams a funeral. A pit bull puppy pees off the balcony. The landlord has dentures at 33. These fragments depict a messed-up world where nihilism and paranoia are always close at hand – but where real emotion is still possible.
