Wednesday is a prolific band. What makes that more interesting is that while they formed in 2017, they almost immediately released a studio album (Yep Definitely) and have released four more studio albums since. But while some groups just create a bunch of music and never evolve, through all their first five studio albums, one can hear a band working out how to be better and always striving to improve.
There is likely the obvious implication as well that Wednesday has little fear. No group just beginning puts out as many albums as they do using a wide variety of sounds if they think they have a bunch of bad tunes. Lucky for us listeners, most of Wednesday's tracks are excellent, though no album they have produced yet compares to the stellar Rat Saw God.
Rat Saw God is a near-perfect album that has no business being. In the hands of a less talented, less cohesive band, the album might not have been worthy to print into vinyl. But not only does Wednesday find some positivity in the darker corners of the dirty south, they almost make you want to help the people the tracks are about. Co-founder/singer/guitarist/lyricist Karly Hartzman is a bit like a modern William Faulkner, only many of her characters are worth saving.
Wednesday is a great way to start any day of your week
Rat Saw God is at times heavy rock, many times extremely indie shoegaze, there's a tinge of folk-country, and a bit of early REM in the production. There are also times when all of those things happen at once. Just because a song starts one way certainly doesn't mean it will end the same.
"Bull Believer" finishes with repeated line of "finish him" but the tenor and vocals of the song are somehow much more disturbing than you might anticipate. "Bath County" is rage to the extreme and perfectly done. "Quarry" has more of an indie-pop-rock sound and these genres ebb and flow within the 4 minute track. It's stunning stuff that cannot be fully appreciate unless listened to.
You should get on the bandwagon now for Wednesday and hope time and some big record company changes them too much. Wednesday makes the music they want to for now and it's a gift for the rest of us. Another five albums in six years would be nothing to complain about.