It's Wednesday, my dudes. The North Carolina band chose the most apt day of the week to return with "Elderberry Wine," their first new material since 2023's critical darling Rat Saw God — one of the best albums of that year.
MJ Lenderman announced earlier this year that he will no longer be touring in Wednesday by way of a GQ profile, which went into detail about the dissolution of his romantic relationship with frontwoman Karly Hartzman after six years as a couple. It was a pretty devastating read, and "Elderberry Wine" immediately reinserts itself as a lump in the throat with the opening line, "Sweet song is a long con / I drove you to the airport with the e-brake on."
As Hartzman explained in a press release, "'Elderberry Wine' is about the potential for sweet things in life (love, family, success) to become poison if not prepared for and attended to correctly." Bolstered by the creaking joints of pedal steel driving the unhurried melody, the aching twang in her voice captures the simultaneous sweetness and sting of it all.