Wednesday release ‘Pick Up That Knife,’ the rattling and grungy new single from the band’s recently announced forthcoming album, Bleeds. “’Pick Up That Knife’ is a song that revolves around feelings of helplessness, when every minor inconvenience hurts double cause you’re close to giving up. It’s also about when our pedal steel player Xandy threw up in the moshpit during the Death Grips set at Primavera Sound in 2023,” band leader and generational songwriter Karly Hatzman explains.
Wednesday’s recently released singles ‘Elderberry Wine’ and ‘Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)’ have established Bleeds as one of the most anticipated albums of the year. They have garnered wide critical praise, including Best of 2025 mid-year lists, the coveted ‘Best New Track’ distinction by Pitchfork, adulation from TIME Magazine, GQ, NPR, Rolling Stone and a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Bleeds is out September 19th via Dead Oceans.
With Bleeds Wednesday present an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that—like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band’s discography—thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession.
Bleeds is a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman—founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist—credits Wednesday’s tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that’s been both rewarding and relentless. “Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential ‘Wednesday Creek Rock’ album,” Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they’ve refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation.
Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who’s been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates—Xandy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake “MJ” Lenderman (guitar)—worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism—not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman’s masterfully subjective approach to detail selection.
WATCH THE ‘ELDERBERRY WINE’ VIDEO
WATCH THE ‘WOUND UP HERE (BY HOLDIN ON)’ VIDEO
WATCH THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT PERFORMANCE
Early Praise for Bleeds:
“The most exciting band in contemporary indie rock” – Associated Press
“Fuses the blistering edges of shoegaze and the twangy ache of country into a vessel for vivid, gnarled storytelling, filled with literary detail.” – TIME Magazine
“Small-town life is just a little too close for comfort on the charmingly dusty new single from Karly Hartzman’s band.” –Pitchfork, Best New Track
“Razor-sharp… A warm welcome back for the band.” – Rolling Stone
“One of the great rising rock bands” – NPR
“Irresistible” – GQ
“Karly Hartzman’s lyrics and vocal delivery are arresting and vivid, Southern Gothic imagery that you can’t look away from no matter how much you want to.” – The FADER
“Some real song of the summer stuff” –Los Angeles Times
“A nostalgic, old-country rock track that feels just like home” – Paste
“One of her best vocal performances yet” – Stereogum, Best Song of the Week
“Intoxicating… Yearning, spectacular vocals from Hartzman.” – FLOOD
Wednesday
Bleeds
TRACK LIST:
- Reality TV Argument Bleeds
- Townies
- Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)
- Elderberry Wine
- Phish Pepsi
- Candy Breath
- The Way Love Goes
- Pick Up That Knife
- Wasp
- Bitter Everyday
- Carolina Murder Suicide
- Gary’s II
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