Talking to writer Eli Enis in 2025, Wednesday singer and songwriter Karly Hartzman said she wanted to explore making music that was influenced by hardcore. “I don’t want to get more singer-songwritery,” she told Enis. I hear the North Carolina band’s 2025 album Bleeds as a chapter in the ongoing story of how indie-rock nudges against the pop music that was made in the past. Whether she and her bandmates get into noisier music on their next album remains to be seen, but I like her melodies. Like their obvious forebears Pavement, Wednesday might be most effective when they concentrate on the basics, and I notice the way she turns the words “died” and “down” into the chorus of the Bleeds tune “Townies.” I rate Bleeds a notch below their 2023 album Rat Saw God because the subject matter of both albums — the complicated lives of indie rockers who live in what seems like an outpost of civilization but is actually just North Carolina — might be more forcefully expressed on Rat Saw God. Still, they’re a great band, and their current tour features guitarist Jake Pugh, who replaces MJ Lenderman in their live shows. Gouge Away opens Sunday at Brooklyn Bowl.
8 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl
925 Third Ave. S.
