MJ Lenderman and Wednesday bandmate Karly Hartzman have broken up, which was confirmed by Lenderman in a profile with the New Yorker. The Ashville, North Carolina shoegaze/country rock band consists of Lenderman, Hartzman, Xandy Chelmis and Ethan Baechtold after their initial formation in 2017.
Wednesday started as a solo project for Hartzman, adding the other members in 2020, with the couple starting to date around 2021 when their album Twin Plagues was released. Then hints of a split started to show in a profile of Lenderman and his fourth solo album, Manning Fireworks.
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In the profiles, Hartzman is referred to as an ex-girlfriend and the split is later confirmed in the New Yorker. “I guess I should mention me and Karly broke up,” Lenderman said. “We moved to Greensboro together, still, after that happened. We already had the plan…I’m gonna move out pretty soon, but I’ll probably stay close to that area, maybe more toward Durham.”
Both are still members of Wednesday, still coming off their critically acclaimed new album, Rat Saw God. Lenderman said the breakup was amicable and they remain bandmates for now.
“I’m still in the band…We experienced a lot of stuff together that nobody else can understand. My bandmates have partners at home, and that causes its own tensions,” Lenderman told the New Yorker.
Hartzman spoke about their relationship in a chat with Variety in 2023, praising his abilities. “We’re still figuring it out, as we tour more and more together. He’s in Wednesday and I’m playing guitar in his band, MJ Lenderman, on tour. It’s a lot of time we spend together. He writes his guitar parts for Wednesday, and he teaches me guitar parts for MJ Lenderman songs because he’s a lot better at guitar than me,” Hartzman told the outlet. “I’m just thankful to be in his band because the musicians are just so amazing. I learn a lot of very basic things I never got because I’m self-taught.”
If anything, it seems that the music means more than anything between the now-former couple. If they can work past things, it’s far more positive than most famous breakups.
