Bound Stems August 15, 2008

Chicago's Bound Stems come from different backgrounds, playing pop music founded on secretly complicated rhythmic structures. Male vocals and female harmonies build narratives off scenes summoned by the instruments and by a library of stolen sounds that emigrated to their songs: grandmas, crafty cabbies, trains, party laughter, turnstiles, storytellers and a fieldsworth of crickets. It's approachable music; it sounds like they knocked themselves out, which they did, and it also sounds like a pleasure to dive headfirst into.