Yes, this group's name rings with a certain degree of literary pretense. And sure, the odd lyrical snippet — "We'll go to Mexico and get a job on an organic farm" ("The Flock"); "I save this song for all you have done, bold and brave American son, you with flecks of gold on your green camouflage" ("Veteran's Day") — leans hard toward the earnest side of the aisle. For a generation that watched its parents treat home equity like an ATM and the environment like a playground no one was accountable to care for, it's all just a little too rich for words.

And this is precisely where you'd be wrong about Austin's the Story Of — a quintet whose Bodies of Water-meets-Pink Floyd's Meddle musical vibe, left-of-center populism, and charmingly naive "brothers and sisters" worldview are just the tonic we need for these troubling times.

The band's third full-length since 2003 (with an EP or two thrown in for good measure) was recorded in a communal riverside cabin near its adopted Texas hometown, lending a perfectly pastoral mind state to the affair. The album kicks off with "Berkeley" (the movement's world capital, perchance?), a dreamy empowerment ode that sounds exactly… read more »