Bounding between experimentation and more traditional indie rock, Bound Stems are like the eclectic geeks who listened to a lot of X growing up, and have more recently embraced our Brooklyn friends and the occasional smattering of Wolf Parade. Granted they’re from Chicago, so everything is filtered through that city’s oddball inferiority complex. Well, less inferiority complex, and more big city with a Midwestern mentality. The album, with its male/female back-and-forth, up-front production and fuzzy guitars is a little all over the place, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s one of those albums that grows with every listen, and reveals a little more of itself each time I hit play.
