Vox - Kirsten Wheeler
Everything else - Josh Wheeler

All songs by Josh Wheeler

Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Josh Wheeler at Fitter, Happier, Studios... (Trenton, MI)

Copyright 2021 Fitter, Happier Studios (ASCAP)

Additional programming on track 5 by Pretty Scary
Additional vocals on track 6 by Anthony Retka

Too Blind to See

I'll Settle

Lighten Up

The Storm is Coming

Messed Up

Leave the Light On

This is Wrong

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Culture War

Stuff and Things

Ann Delisi's Pick of the Week: "Lighten Up"

kirsten wheeler: vocals 
josh wheeler: guitar, bass, drums, percussion, rhodes, hammond, moog, mellotron 

words and music by josh wheeler 
except track 6 by john lennon 

track 1 arranged with 
help from ben west 

additional musicians - ben west: drums (tracks 1, 2, 7, 8), bass (track 1), percussion (tracks 1, 2, 7), moog (track 1), rhodes (track 1), sk-1 (track 2) 

engineered, mixed, mastered by josh wheeler at fitter, happier studios… 
additional recording by ben west at small time studios

Free as a Bird (Beatles cover)

kirsten wheeler: vocals 
josh wheeler: guitar, bass, drums, percussion, rhodes, hammond, moog, mellotron 

words and music by josh wheeler 

engineered, mixed, mastered by josh wheeler at fitter, happier studios…

It All Adds Up

“The Bruised Reed” is a female-fronted, fuzzy indie pop band led by husband and wife team Josh and Kirsten Wheeler. The music leans fuzzy and ragged when it wants to, but contemplative and slowcore when it needs to.

The band started as a basement-bound side project for Josh to exercise some of his songwriting demons; composing, recording, and playing all instruments on their 2008 debut LP "Pass Around the Easy Lie", and 2010’s follow-up EP "New Words For Old Desires”; with Kirsten handling all vocal duties. 

They released the albums for free online, with no real intent for the project other than to have the songs available so people would get a chance to hear them.

Attention quickly followed as their music was picked up for local airplay on several radio stations, written about in local blogs, and even had a song featured in a Chevrolet commercial. The band went on to contribute the lead-off track to 2013's Elliott Smith tribute album "Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands."

Around this time, “International Pop Overthrow” Festival curator David Bash happened upon the recordings online and invited the duo to put together a full band and play at the 2014 event. Josh recruited local musicians to fully realize these basement noodlings as stage-ready songs. Shortly thereafter the band was invited to play 2014 and 2015's “Metro Times Blowout” festival, made a live appearance on WDET 101.9FM’s “Ann Delisi’s Essential Music”, and booked several surrounding dates; including performances at 2015-2017’s “Detroit by Detroit” showcase.

The band is hard at work on new music, issuing a regular series of two-track digital releases (not-so-cleverly titled “Doubles”). There are now three installments available for purchase and streaming at all major digital retailers. 

"...the band manages to weave dreamy layered melodies and Kirsten’s ethereal vocals together with angular chord changes in a way that is mellow and rocks at the same time. " - International Pop Overthrow

"...Kirsten Wheeler has a stunning voice, while Josh Wheeler can write a killer tune and thwack his axe. The results are hard-rocking yet gorgeous and soaring. A marriage made in heaven, then" - Metro Times Detroit

"...a band we're sure everyone will be talking about...the band is going big!" - HipinDetroit.com

The Bruised Reed

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