Austin Sound

Austin isn’t known for its discrete seasons; sure, at some point in April the dry crackle of leaves is replaced by the blast of an angry, long-hungover sun, but patterns change so quickly day-to-day that it often seems as if winter and summer co-occur. Until the Autumn, the fourth full-length album by Austin’s The Story Of, exists in this gap between Summer and death, where nostalgia and hope seem at once lost and omnipresent. Cathartic and powerful, this album has the capacity to wear the listener out almost as fast as it lifts him up.

Opener “Berkeley” immediately bursts into a thick fog of harmonized voices with vocoded accompaniments. One may immediately notice the increase in (post-)pop sensibility on this album, but as vocalist Christman Hersha utters “don’t back off/ we got ‘em all/just where we want”; the change in style is deliberate, and one can detect this intent behind every note, even if their reasoning for doing so isn’t solidified until later in the album.

There’s something about discussing music over beer that always rides a fine line between pretension and authenticity. Among friends, bare bones honesty surfaces, and we can delve into the meat of albums circulating in these days of plentiful “indie” pop rock bands. Though there’s a dearth that’s worth a mention, fewer deserve a full play on your iPod.

Austin-via-Athens, Ohio five-piece The Story Of is part of that shiny minority, and migrating southwest 4 years ago brought their creative core closer to the fore. Candid, punchy and playful, they’re respectful of each other, as close friends always are, and though their dynamic isn’t uncommon, it nicely compliments the mélange of poppy, bright, sometimes spatial, sometimes somber rock they’ve made since 2002.