One of the most exciting records to come out this year is "Rat Saw God," the latest by Asheville, N.C., indie rockers Wednesday.
Frontwoman Karly Hartzman and her bandmates -- backup vocalist-guitarist MJ Lenderman, steel guitarist Xandy Chelmis, bassist Margo Schultz and drummer Alan Miller -- have managed to conjure a noisy, volatile and loose mix of shoegaze, emo and country; imagine a punk-rock Lucinda Williams fronting My Bloody Valentine after listening to a lot of Drive-By Truckers.
The group will be in Little Rock for a show Friday at Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack. Cryogeyser from Los Angeles will open.
Wednesday is signed to indie label Dead Oceans, home to, among others, Phoebe Bridgers and Mitski. "Rat Saw God" is the follow-up to the wonderfully titled "Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'Em Up," an eclectic album in which the band covers Roger Miller, Chris Bell, Gary Stewart, the Smashing Pumpkins and more. Before that was the excellent "Twin Plagues," which landed Wednesday on more than a few best-of lists in 2021.
Hartzman is a gifted, fearless and insightful lyricist who seamlessly chronicles life in the South with all its dichotomies, tedium and eccentricity. It's a place where Dollywood, someone possibly dying in a Planet Fitness parking lot and shots of Narcan exist in the same song ("Bath County" from "Rat Saw God"). She's also got a keen eye (and/or memory) for those messed-up teenage years of poor decisions and wasted nights.
"Quarry" is a rundown of characters in a neighborhood that range from the bitter old lady who nonetheless gives out full-size candy bars on Halloween, to the parents of the Kletz brothers fighting in the front yard in their underwear, to the Jewish kid who got the preacher's daughter pregnant.
"It's all just stuff that I find moving in my daily life," Hartzman says in an email interview. "I think that's the most affecting imagery to me 'cause I've seen it with my own eyes. So I totally just collect that s***. I've gotten a really honed-in sense for stuff that would make a good lyric over the years."
One of the album's many standouts is "Chosen to Deserve" in which Hartzman, who has been in a relationship with Lenderman for several years, chronicles the time in which one tells their significant other all of those unflattering and difficult stories from their past.
"Just so you will know what you've been chosen to deserve," she sings. The video features members of Hartzman's family.
"Bull Believer" is a chilling, cathartic track that stretches to 8 ½ minutes and, by the end, finds Hartzman screaming like a trapped animal.
The song "definitely turned out the way I envisioned it in the realm of like what I wanted to communicate," she says, "but I honestly had no idea how my screaming would sound cause I'd never done it."
One of the things that makes Wednesday's sound so unique is the steel guitar, though Hartzman says it's not an influence on how she composes.
"I don't write with it in mind 'cause I have no idea how it works. I just let Xandy do his thing and he always finds just the right stuff.
"It's pretty much always been part of the band. [It] started out with just a lap steel and then [we] got a pedal steel when we could afford it. It's been my favorite instrument for a long time."
More News
NoneWednesday
Opening act: Cryogeyser
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Stickyz Rock n Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock
Admission: $16
Information: (501) 372-7707; stickyz.com