Guttering

In 2023, the band Wednesday enjoyed a well-deserved critical and commercial breakthrough with their third album, the outstanding Rat Saw God, and their lead guitarist, MJ Lenderman, saw his solo career take off with the release of 2024s excellent Manning Fireworks. The independent Julias War label took notice of the new good fortune of their friends and remembered that they had helped distribute a cassette-only EP credited to MJ Lenderman & Wednesday, 2021s Guttering. In 2025, the label gave the EP a reissue, making the material available on vinyl for the first time. Guttering certainly deserves to be heard by a wider audience than had caught up with it in the past, but it may not connect with Wednesdays or Lendermans newer fans. While Wednesday were never afraid of being noisy, this material is decidedly lo-fi, with the performances enveloped in a cloud of distortion and aural fog, and the finer details of Karly Hartzmans and Lendermans vocals sometimes get lost in the mix. (Comparing the clarity of Greg Sages recording of "Sacrifice [For Love]" and the layers of purposeful murk on the cover that appears here is instructive.) Given Wednesdays well-documented love of shoegaze-style guitars, the grain of this music isnt outside their comfort zone, and Hartzman and Lenderman are striving to create a moodier, more deliberate approach than they try when theyre in full rock mode. And while the songs dont sound like A-list material for Hartzman or Lenderman, "Terminex" and "Phish Pepsi" are deep cuts that are well worth hearing. Guttering plays like a lo-fi project that was meant to be an experiment more than a high-profile release, and in that context, its something loyal fans will appreciate, though this isnt as user-friendly or as deeply satisfying as Rat Saw God or Manning Fireworks. And it probably wasnt meant to be. ~ Mark Deming