Beaten Awake

Indie / Comedy / Comedy

Kent, OH

Billboard

Beaten Awake never intended to make it this far. They started out as long time friends working at the same bar in Kent, OH, The Zephyr. Joel McAdams, Ryan Brannon, Jon Finley, and Allen Karpinski were all veterans of the local rock scene. Jam sessions at drummer Ryan Brannon's apartment led to spontaneous gigs at The Zephyr Pub, a record deal with Audio Eagle, and an opening spot on The Black Keys west coast tour.

Musically, Beaten Awake features two distinct vocalists and songwriters. The songs of Joel McAdams evoke the slacker rock of Stephen Malkmus or Lou Barlow, while Jon Finley sings his country fried rock songs as if he was raised on whiskey and winstons.

If the boys of Beaten Awake weren't such good friends, I'd say the two songwriters, McAdams and Finley, were waging a competition for your attention on Let's Get Simplified. The disc opens with Finley's "Browns Town," a back porch strummer that quietly creeks and strains along with its muted guitar lines and delicate drumming. Next is McAdams with "It's A Bubble Bath of Sharks," a charmingly played song of lost love, accompanied by a menagerie of guitars and the bass guitar seemingly doing their own thing and sticking together at the same time. When Finley ups the ante with the short psychedelic blow out of "Broken Fang" and follows it up with the sweet little stomper, "Goin Nowhere," McAdams is quick to answer with his best Barlow on the sad ballad "All Up All Close" and the quick, quirky, and delightful "Endless Boo."

Beaten Awake may not have anticipated the attention they're receiving when they started those first jam sessions, but by being accomplished musicians and masterful songwriters, they are making themselves increasingly difficult to ignore. This is the honest so sh*t truth -- I've gone through plenty of cds in the past few weeks, most of which came with a lot more hype than this one, but Let's Get Simplified by Beaten Awake is the one I always want playing on my stereo. ~Bill irockcleveland.blogspot.com

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Boston Globe Review Sep 21

The foursome's arresting debut has an amplitude of movement, wonder, and heartache, but the turbulent fullness of its nocturnal life is rendered in a deceptively spartan surface of subtly employed guitars, conversational drumming, and haunted sense of place.