Wednesday have released “Elderberry Wine,” their first new song since 2023, along with a Spencer Kelly-directed music video. Stream it below.
A breezy, quasi-country track driven by Karly Hartzman’s delicate vocals, “Elderberry Wine” features a chorus backed by guitarist MJ Lenderman in which they sing: “And the pink boiled eggs stay afloat in the brine/ ‘Cause even the best champagne tastes like elderberry wine.”
In a statement, Hartzman revealed the song was inspired by a story involving the plant’s equal benefits and consequences. “‘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,” she explained. “One time… my sister consumed them raw and it immediately induced vomiting. So ‘Elderberry Wine’ is ultimately a love song about creating just the right environment for fulfillment. There’s a delicate balance that needs to be created, especially in love, for two lives to intersect without poisoning each other.”
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The accompanying video was shot at The Bench, the second oldest bar in Greensboro, NC. Director Spencer Kelly explained that their aim was to capture the establishment’s natural ambiance. “On any given day, you’ll find people there from all walks of life swapping stories beneath the music blasting overhead,” he said. “We came in with some specific scripted scenes, but we wanted to capture the bar as authentically as possible — so everyone you see in the video is a regular, including Karly’s dad, George. This video is a bit of a love letter to places like this, where the sense of community runs deep and the beers are always cold.”
Tonight (May 21st), the band will perform the track during their late night television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The episode will air at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
Wednesday also have two upcoming festival slots: Portland’s Project Pabst and Las Vegas’ Best Friends Forever (get tickets here).
The group’s most recent album, Rat Saw God, was named by Consequence as the second best album of 2023. The following year, Wednesday contributed to a track on Cardinals at the Window, a benefit album that raised donations for those displaced by Hurricane Helene.
Revisit Jonah Krueger’s feature “Pedal Steel Is Weeping Its Way Out of Country and into the Mainstream,” which included an interview with Wednesday’s steel player, Xandy Chelmis.
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