Firstly, how fucking pissed much the band be that Netflix did that thing and it was such a big hit? Fucking decimated their SEO.
Secondly, if Jenna Ortega really did quit Scream VII (there are seven of those things now??) in protest over their co-star being axed after their support of Palestine, then good for them. It’s not much, but it’s something.
Thirdly, doesn’t ‘Jenna Ortega’ sound like the name of some fleet-footed Argentinian Boca Juniors winger that Atletico Madrid have shown an interest in signing?
Fourthly, the Argentinian footballer’s first name would obviously be pronounced with a really raspy ‘H’ sound, like ‘Hhhhhhhhhhhhhenna Ortega’.
Fifthly… ‘Fifthly‘?? Does that sound right to you?
Sixthly… Nope, really sounds wrong… But let’s go with it: Sixthly: Wednesday, the band from Asheville…
… released their fourth and, probably, best album in 2023.
Seventhly, the record sees the band fine tuning and perhaps perfecting their particular brand of music. The guitars drone and clang better than they’ve droned and clanged before, and they do so over a subtly deranged spin on country rock that’s never before been so potent. Their strongest asset remains Karly Hartzman’s lyrics: nuanced, near emotionless snippets of mundane American life. There is never a trace of pity or judgement – or even literal statement – but everything is shot through with a real sense of sadness and loss, or the relentless nothing of the everything. There are no specific meanings here, no real narrative being spun, but Hartzman details scenes such as “Rusty old can opener neglected in the drawer/Reminds me of the ones you did off of the diving board/Bird flies into the window every day at the same time/It’ll never learn, but it also wouldn’t die” like nobody else.
Eighthly… that really doesn’t sound right… Remember Bull Believer? The nine minute banger that was last year’s 60th best song? That’s here too!
Ninthly, this is a really, really, really, really good album. And it’s only on the list because I ended up with 39 and needed one more.
Tenthly, I thought I might be done with Wednesday this year, at least in a sense. There’s obviously long been a lot of affection for them since I was the first person to write about them online (prove me wrong?), and they are officially a Gold Star Artist. In fact, now that this album will need to be added to their album ranking, it will probably end up being ranked the best of all four of their releases. But 2023 is the year I’ve started to only list the albums that were truly exceptional that year, and to be honest the band’s previous – ‘Yep, Definitely’ (#48 in 2018), ‘I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone‘ (#53 2020) and ‘Twin Plagues’ (#66 in 2021) – would probably not make that cut if it were applied at the time. Well, maybe ‘Yep, Definitely’, but only because that’s no longer available to purchase or stream and I want to keep advertising the fact that I will sell a digital copy for only $2mil. ‘Rat Saw God’ is better than anything they’ve done before, but still not spectacular.
Eleventhly, I had a bit of an epiphany… only, like, a negative one. What’s that called? An eshittany? I had an eshittany when I saw them live in Manchester a month or so ago. I’d watched Little Simz absolutely tear the motherfucking roof off the night before, so the extent that I was still popping my everloving tits off. Then I watched Wednesday and just felt… nothing… Decent, occasionally brilliant guitar songs played as politely as possible. I really started to question whether this was music I even really liked. I left long before the end.
Twelfthly, to be clear, Wednesday’s songs really are occasionally brilliant, they are just still to make a brilliant album. I still don’t think they’re completely committed to their own sound – it’s Turkey Vultures. That’s what Wednesday sound like and should always be their central conceit. Work outwards from that sound – and are still padding out their albums with perfectly serviceable but at the end of the day pretty standard country rock and acoustic ballads. You might here some (lesser. Far, far lesser) outfits claim that ‘Rat Saw God’ is the sound of Wednesday ‘arriving’ as a first class act. Not quite. They remain up and comers, hot prospects for the future, and potential stars, but the songs aren’t quite consistently there, and they need more faith in their own unique sound.
Every daughter of God
Has a little bad luck sometimes
Every daughter of God
Has a little bad luck sometimes
Bath County
Yeah, I’m listing the Metacritic score this year, just the other two losers are too cool for Metacritic.
Necessary Evil 
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