Wednesday's Twin Plagues: Anxiety Buried in Shoegaze

Wednesday, an Asheville-based five-piece, has released their sophomore album, Twin Plagues, characterized by a significantly scaled-up shoegaze sound. The album embraces loud, distorted riffs and layered fuzzy textures, creating a dense sonic environment for frontwoman Karly Hartzman's introspective lyrics.

Hartzman uses the album to process lingering memories and anxieties, drawing inspiration from surreal and personal experiences. Recurring motifs, such as a real-life car crash, cast a shadow over the record, injecting an undercurrent of unease beneath the music's often exhilarating noise. This delicate balance between raw emotional expression and generalized introspection adds a unique dimension.

While the album's relentless and overwhelming sound can be intense, moments of intimacy and variation emerge, particularly in slower ballads. Despite occasional struggles to distinguish vocals within the thick soundscapes, Wednesday ultimately leaves listeners with memorable impressions, much like a striking, albeit not fully detailed, recollection. The album's strength lies in its evocation of immediate, ineffable pain and fragmented memory.