In indie rock’s broad spectrum, the moments which resonate most within its grand cannon are those that feel like they can become part of our lives because they are of first-hand born from the lives lived by their creators. Karly Hartzman, the primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist of Wednesday, understands the power of biography and illustration when designing those finer details alongside guitarist MJ Lenderman, bassist Margo Shultz, drummer Alan Miller, and lap/pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis. With Rat Saw God, the latest full-length effort from Asheville rockers, they’ve defined a watershed moment for our next wave of rock reinventionists. In a sense, it spirits an attentiveness to craft, detailing textures in guitar music beyond its usual scope while excavating extraordinary arrangements of balancing the loud and quiet of it all (both brain and instrument) which modern artists such as Big Thief, Hop Along, and Speedy Ortiz have before them. Their own individual thesis statement on the artform is of southern living and synesthesia flowing throughout its lifeblood, with opener “Hot Rotten Grass Smell” akin to shoegazing over-heated and disorienting the air, seasons of friendship in slow motion alt-country decay on “Formula 1″, and “TV in the Gas Station” casually driving across summer’s road map. We’re privy to the slightest of moments seen by Hartzman, be it watching a dude playing Mortal Kombat doubling as allegory for a dead-end relationship on the explosive “Bull Believer” or things no one should ever have to see on their way to Dollywood in the morbid grunge-pop of “Bath County”. It’s an ugly-beautiful portrait of the mundane and yet, prolific in making everyday life into stories that make you realize how we’re all witness to our own biblical proportions with an inspired perspective.

Highlights: “Hot Rotten Grass Smell”, “Bull Believer”, “TV in the Gas Station”

Wednesday’s Rat Saw God is available now on Dead Oceans.

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