C.D. Singles Club #17 – Beaten Awake – Coming Home

You can’t throw a rock in Cleveland without hitting Beaten Awake.  Since our launch in January, we’ve seen the Kent natives open for Heartless Bastards and Crocodiles. (And one other act, I think, but it escapes me.  Little help?)  In the next couple of months, they’ll warm things up for Built to Spill and Meat Puppets when those acts blow through Cleveland.  The band’s second record will be out on Fat Possum soon, featuring production work from Patrick Carney (you know, the Black Key that isn’t Dan Auerbach).  In short, Beaten Awake have been on the Cleveland radar for awhile.

It’s been clear from the first time we caught them that Beaten Awake was full of talented dudes, but it’s always seemed to us that they’ve been a step away from putting it together.  There are points during their sets when you hear a snatch of something really startling, but it’s always seemed like a kind of promising triple-A first baseman kind of thing.  The lead single from the upcoming record both confirms our suspicions that these cats know what time it is and implies that the day that Beaten Awake put all the pieces together is on the horizon.  It’s a three-minute nugget of sweet, synth-fuzz, wistful lyrics and a strong, emotion-laden conclusion.  We’re stoked to hear the rest of Thunder$Troke (which might not be the hottest name for a record, but whatever), because another local band that rocks is always a good thing.

Beaten Awake – Coming Home