Brainstory

Buck is Brainstory’s full-length introduction to a wider audience, and it arrives with the hazy confidence of a band that understands mood as deeply as melody. The Southern California trio pull from psych-pop, soft-focus soul, indie rock, jazz, and lowrider oldies, blending those influences into a sound that feels sun-drenched, intimate, and unmistakably their own. Released by Big Crown, the album moves with the loose ease of a backyard session but is full of detail: fuzzy guitars, dreamy keys, melodic bass lines, and songs that slip between nostalgia and modernity without forcing either. There is an East L.A. warmth in these grooves, but also a left-field experimental streak that keeps Buck from ever becoming background music. For collectors of contemporary psych-soul, Chicano groove, and genre-blurring vinyl with genuine personality, this LP is a superb pick—sweetly melodic, slightly smoky, and endlessly replayable.