BRAINSTORY came firing out of the San Bernadino Valley in California s in 2015 with a six-track, jazzy CD EP entitled A Natural Phantasm; and Big Crown over in Brooklyn properly liked what they heard, saw that it was good; quickly gathered Kevin, Tony, Eric into their welcoming arms. And Big Crown has been their rightful, righteous home ever since.
We last encountered them on 7″ last July, when they shared a split 7″ with the incredible The Shacks, the both of them taking on a cover by the King of Chicano Soul, Sunny & The Sunliners, that outfit itself much-adored and much reissued by Big Crown; they offered offer a gorgeous rendition of teen-love classic “Runaway”, full of echo and space and timelessness (read that here – you have to check out The Shacks, too, you really do).
And now they’re back on the perfect format for two sides of the most delicious retro-soul, “Seasons” b/w “Bye Bye”; you can snaffle that nugget on 7″ come April 21st, but thanks to the wonderweb you can order it right now at Bandcamp. (Yeah yeah, there’s digital too, but …)
This pairing of songs are the only to vocal tracks from an otherwise wholly entirely instrumental EP to follow, Ripe.
And to seal the deal, they’ve let the flip, “Bye Bye”, out into the world; with Leon Michels at the faders, you know it’s gonna be pure soul, and so it is, a tale of longing and regret made for vocal grace and that perfect production dovetailing. That refrain, “You passed me by / (Bye Bye)”, ensures you know it’s a tale of love unrequited or soured delivered with class and longing. Now all that remains is for you to press play, below.
