Rialto, CA-based soul outfit Brainstory — siblings Kevin (vocals, guitar) and Tony Martin (bass) and Eric Hagstrom (drums) — can trace their origins to the shared common denominator of jazz: With no real music scene in California’s Inland Empire, Kevin Martin and Eric Hagstrom both landed in music school, where they met. Tony Martin, however, relocated to San Francisco, where he studied jazz bass in a more traditional fashion — gig-by-gig, learning trial-by-fire.
By the mid-2010s, the trio relocated to Los Angeles, where they started with a more jazz-tinged take on soul. “”That’s what we were all into at the time—jazz,” Brainstory’s Kevin Martin explains. “And that’s what we wanted to do with our first EP in 2014—take our songs and expand them, improvise, weld jazz onto them. We wanted to trick people into listening to jazz, basically.”
Since then, the trio’s sound and approach has evolved from their self-released EPs and the opening slots of their earliest days. Growing as musicians and people, the trio don’t want to be pigeonholed as jazz heads — although the transcendent and freeing nature of that genre is crucial to their sound.
For the members of Brainstory, the “genre-bending” band distinction is a celebration of what sets them apart in a very busy and crowded field. Anchored by Kevin Martin’s songwriting and real, studied-but-humble musicianship, the result is something new yet familiar. But it’s more than just top-notch musicianship and songwriting; the band also has some proper influences. In their formative days, some of their most significant influences came from a few places: their parents (who were musicians in their own right) and their household record collections, and then later, Chicano Batman‘s Eduardo Arenas.
Arenas produced the trio’s first EPs and then introduced them to Big Crown Records and the label’s co-owner Leon Michels, who would eventually produce their full-length debut, 2019’s Buck. Michels also was a major influence on the band’s 2021 EP Ripe: Of the seven-song EP, two featured lyrics while the remaining five were instrumental compositions rooted in heady, vibey atmospherics.
Much like the countless bands and artists across the globe, the pandemic kept the members of Brainstory out of the studio, away from Big Crown’s East Coast operations — and of course, put their plans to play live shows on pause for a while. Feeling the need to establish and maintain some momentum during the pandemic, the trio decided to do something drastic: Spearheaded by the band’s Eric Hagstrom, the band built their own studio in Long Beach and quickly got to work recording music. “We didn’t really set out to make a record,” Hagerstrom clarifies. “We were learning how to record and playing around to figure out what was working. But we were also sending the stuff to Big Crown, and they were like, ‘Let’s make this record.’”
The trio’s Leon Micehls-produced sophomore album Sounds Good is slated for an April 19, 2024 release through Big Crown Records. The album will feature “Gift of Life,” a lush, old-school, Quiet Storm-like, show-topping ballad built around a shimmering and vibey arrangement featuring fluttering, ethereal flute paired with Kevin Martin’s emotive, falsetto croon and some incredibly catch hooks. While the song see the band pulling from classic soul, psych soul and dub in a way that sounds like it could been released sometime between 1968-1974, “Gift of Life,” manages to feel remarkably modern.
Thematically, the song sees the trio ruminating on the complexity of the human condition with a hard-earned, weary wisdom. “This song is somewhat of a prayer to the inevitable decay that surrounds us and the pain that follows. It alters our perspectives and ways of life,” Brainstory explains. “It’s a powerful natural force that guides us. In this life, we lose and eventually must let go of life itself but, when we learn to surrender, we give ourselves a chance to change and adapt. Though it is often painful, the reward is simply to see another day with new eyes full of gratitude for the opportunity to live.”
To celebrate the official announcement of their sophomore album, the California trio shared a double single “Listen”/”Too Yung.” “Listen” sees the trio crafting a classic, two-step inducing groove-driven song with shimmering analog synths, an overdrive-fueled guitar solo paired with some dreamy falsetto melodies and harmonies. While sounding as though it could have been a Mandrill or Isley Brothers B side, the song sees Martin expressing modern day frustrations over how technology can distract people from being fully present in our daily lives and from spirituality. The song’s narrator is encouraging the listener to spend some time enjoying the present moment, because it’s all too short and remarkably fleeting.
The trio will be hitting the road this week for some Northern California shows with The Budos Band before embarking on a headlining U.S. tour in April, and UK and European Union dates in May with Lady Wray. Tour dates are below.
BRAINSTORY TOUR DATES
Feb 23 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA*
Feb 24 – Felton Music Hall – Felton, CA*
Apr18 – Lodge Room- Highland Park, CA
Apr 22 – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ
Apr 23 – Love Buzz – El Paso, TX
Apr 25 – Tandem – San Antonio, TX
Apr 26 – Psych Fest – Austin, TX
Apr 27 – Norman Music Festival – Norman, OK
Apr 30 – Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM
May 01 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
May 02 – The Atrium – Fort Collins, CO
May 03 – DLC – Salt Lake City, UT
May 04 – Neurolux – Boise, ID
May 07 – High DIve – Seattle, WA
May 08 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
May 16 – Knust – Hamburg, Germany +
May 17 – Franz Mhelhose – Enfurt, Germany +
May 18 – Lido – Berlin, Germany +
May 20 – La Maroquinerie – Paris, France +
May 26 – Cross The Tracks Festival – Brockwell Park, UK
May 28 – The Blues Kitchen – Manchester, UK +
* with The Budos Band
+ with Lady Wray
