Wednesday – “Bitter Everyday”

Wednesday's new Bleeds single "Bitter Everyday" is a ripper from the very start: "Grocery store sushi/ You’re chopping ketamine with a motel room key," Karly Hartzman sings before the familiarly fuzzed-out, raucous guitars come crashing in. What more could you wish for?

“‘Bitter Everyday’ is a song formed around my desperate desire to tell the story about how in 2019 this lady came up on our porch at like 3 in the morning when Jake and our friend Andrew were out there drinking and playing guitar,” Hartzman explains, continuing:

She asked them if she could sing them a song she had written, she had an incredible voice. They recorded a voice note of it and showed it to me the next morning when I woke up. I knew which lady it was, she was a houseless person who walked around the downtown area a lot. Weeks later, I was walking home from work and I saw a photo of her on a telephone pole. It was an old mug shot of her, and she was done up in juggalo makeup. The description on the paper said she was wanted for murder. The chorus is an homage to Iris DeMent's song "Easy's Gettin' Harder Everyday."

If only quotes from artists about their new songs were always a crazy story like this one. "Bitter Everyday" follows "Elderberry Wine," “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On),” and "Pick Up That Knife." Watch Hartzman and friends party on a boat in the Ben Turok-directed music video below.

Hartzman also did an intimate solo set at New York's Nightclub 101 last night, where she played all of the aforementioned singles plus an incredible non-single from the album called "Townies." Not a lot of people had their phones out, but you can see a couple of videos from the crowd below.

Bleeds is out 9/19 via Dead Oceans.