Bound Stems – Appreciation Night (Flameshovel)
The ambitious debut from the Bound Stems is beaming with hometown pride. With Chicago as their muse, the band has crafted a densely layered epic wearing its influences on its sleeve. It would be easy to write off the Bound Stems as second-rate math rock but repeated listens reveal Appreciation Night as a sonic masterpiece, tugging your ears in three directions at once without a second to catch your breath.
A kitschy jingle layered with the scripted dialogue of a flight attendant (“Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to welcome you to Chicago…”) introduces the album, and with this formality out of the way, a second voice, above an echo of children’s laughter, thanks “everyone for joining us today,” something one might expect from an impending theatrical production. What may come as a shock is that Appreciation Night is exactly that: an intricate production with all the trappings of a jumbled mess.