A few Wednesdays ago, Wednesday triumphantly returned with "Elderberry Wine," their first new single since 2023's excellent Rat Saw God. Now, a few Wednesdays later, Wednesday have returned with not only another single but news of their latest album Bleeds, out this September. The single is called "Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)."
"Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)" isn't as sweet as "Elderberry Wine." Instead, it's thornier, embracing this world's dark twists. Like all great Wednesday songs, "Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)" features some striking lyrics and a beautifully feral scream by vocalist-lyricist Karly Hartzman.
"This song is inspired by a story my friend told me, from when he had to pull a body out of a creek in West Virginia. Someone had drowned but they took a few days to resurface because of the current," Hartzman revealed.
She continued, “'I wound up here by holdin on' is a line from my friend Evan Gray's poetry book: Thickets Swamped In A Fence-Coated Briars. He gave me and Jake [Lenderman] a copy of it to read on tour once and that line stuck out to me as pure genius so I stole it and wrote the rest of the song in my own words around it."
We're greeted with the opening lines: "Scratch off ticket for the education lottery/ Found him drowned in the creek/ Face was puffy." Hartzman's writing is a series of candid photographs, taken with direct flash, capturing the dereliction or high jinks around her. They're thumbtacked to cork board of itchy guitars and wooly percussion. "Mounted antlers in the kitchen on a crooked nail/ Other killers keep teeth keep the fingernails," goes another incredible line. Her words are true, pointing to the bizarre and dark realities of her world. I, for one, am grateful to witness it.
“Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential ‘Wednesday Creek Rock’ album,” she said the new LP. "This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like. We’ve devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out — and I feel like we did."
Watch the video below and find the track list for Bleeds below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Reality TV Argument Bleeds"
02 "Townies"
03 "Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)"
04 "Elderberry Wine"
05 "Phish Pepsi"
06 "Candy Breath"
07 "The Way Love Goes"
08 "Pick Up That Knife"
09 "Wasp"
10 "Bitter Everyday"
11 "Carolina Murder Suicide"
12 "Gary’s II"
Bleeds is out 9/18 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.
