If you’ve spoken with me about music over the last two years, there’s a very good chance that I’ve brought up Wednesday, a scruffy young band from Asheville, North Carolina that’s made a name for themselves by combining country and shoegaze into one noisy, twangy, charming stew. They’ve been on a bit of a tear since 2020, releasing two full length albums (2020’s I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone and 2021’s Twin Plagues), two EPs (2021’s Guttering and 2022’s Mowing the Leaves Instead of Pilin’ em Up), one very good single (2022’s “Feast of Snakes”) and, by my estimation, the best song of 2022 (the epic “Bull Believer”). In 2023, they’ll be adding to their already stacked catalog with a brand new full-length, Rat Saw God, due out April 7. 

As a part of the announcement of Rat Saw God, the band also released “Chosen to Deserve” which, like “Bull Believer,” will appear on the album. If “Bull Believer” demonstrates why Wednesday is currently a good band (impeccable musicianship, creative use of distortion, unique vocals), then “Chosen to Deserve” demonstrates why they can become a great one. So many bands pack it up and move to New York, Los Angeles, or Philadelphia to get their start, and in the process, erase their distinct regional identity. Wednesday, on the other hand, is not just proudly southern, but proudly rural, as well. According to a statement released with the song, “Chosen to Deserve” is lead singer/lyricist Karly Hartzman’s attempt to write a Drive-By Truckers song, and, like the best songs by that iconic Georgia group, “Chosen to Deserve” is a country song in rock clothing, presenting life below the Mason-Dixon line in all its mess and glory. “We always start by tellin’ our best stories first,” Hartzman warbles to her lover, “So now that it’s been awhile I’ll get around to my worst.” What follows is a darkly funny chronicle of copious amounts of substance abuse and small town hijinks, all tied into a neat little bow when Hartzler admits that “now all the drugs are getting kind of boring to me” and she’s thankful she has someone to share her life with now. 

Accompanied by bright arena rock guitars, “Chosen to Deserve” is probably Wednesday’s most accessible song to date; even Xandy Chelmis’ pedal-steel, which squeals like a slaughtered hog on songs like “Maura,” is relegated to a more traditional country rock role. But its frank, funny lyrics about ecstasy overdoses and skipping school let Wednesday maintain their edge while the video, which splices childhood home movies with a tour of Hartzler’s hometown, foregrounds a proud but unglamorous slice of America most big time musicians would never dream of stopping in. Indie rock is a paradox, in that it very often plays the role of underdog, but just as often strains to appeal to the cultural elite. Wednesday rejects elitism at every opportunity by embracing their rural roots head on, parlaying it with their considerable musical talents to create something that’s regionally distinct and stylistically innovative at the same time. It’s the kind of thing a band can use to launch themselves into the stratosphere. April 7 can’t come soon enough.

Somewhat unjustly eclipsing the Wednesday news was singer/songwriter supergroup boygenius’ announcement that their first full-length album, the record, will be released on March 31. A trio comprising of sad girl superstars Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Daucus, and Julien Baker, boygenius have become something of a metonym for the wave of quiet, emotionally wrenching indie rock released primarily by young women that came to define indie rock in the back half of the 2010s. Your feelings on each boygenius member’s solo work may vary (I think Daucus is a genius, Bridgers is inconsistent but very good, and Baker is a bit of a snoozefest), but their self-titled 2018 EP is inarguably great, a once in a generation meeting of the minds that includes some of the best songs ever written about despair and introversion. It’s like the Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris Trio album, but for bummed out millennials.

Sticking with the whole “three” theme, boygenius released a triptych of songs with their announcement, each featuring a lead vocal performance from a different member. “$20” is probably the most uptempo song Baker’s ever sung lead on, featuring deliberately rocking guitars that recall Yankee Hotel Foxtrot era Wilco, enough automotive imagery to make Bruce Springsteen jealous, and a truly impressive three-part vocal bridge. “Emily I’m Sorry,” Bridgers’ time to shine, sounds like it could be cut from any of her previous albums, a chilly breakup ballad featuring spacey flourishes that’s given more heft by Daucus and Baker’s baking vocals. Daucus’ “True Blue” is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the warmest of the three songs, a love song about an understanding partner with lightly chiming guitars and trilling, theremin-esque synths. 

It’s a shame that the record won’t be released until the end of March, because boygenius writes albums perfect for the short, gray days of winter, and these songs are no exception. Assuming the rest of the album is at the same standard, the record will be an undeniable hit among indie circles. But given the considerable press the album has already received, including a Rolling Stone cover story, we could be looking at the record as a true-crossover moment when the indie trends that had been burbling just under mainstream attention all of a sudden spill-over into a wider audience. Here’s to hoping, at least.