Two of the most evident traits in Chicagoans are that they are jittery – which also leads to a feeling that instant gratification is a birthright – but they also have a patient nature that steadies them through great tedium (rush hour traffic and local Kanye West is a role model for those on the mend, drinking through straws and going on to write two of the best hip-hop albums of all-time), two things that are non-conciliatory, but very Windy City. They eat on the run, just like the rest of us, but it’s a way of life to drive two hours one way, to and from their office building. It’s possible that the city’s Bound Stems are simply doing what comes naturally to all those who consider Chicago and its thousand suburbs home. It’s the only way songs like the ones below and the others on its excellent debut record “Appreciation Night” – out on Flameshovel Records this Tuesday – could have been created – with tender loving care, the kind Elvis Presley gave his belt buckles, his gun collection and the monkey room at Graceland. Songs like “Andover” are patchwork quilts that involve so many different blocks of fabric that it’s a feast visually and audibly, forming together a piece of warmth and depth that should raise our expectations of what it takes for a song to really be complete, to feel intact. It calculates out to a successful coat of mesmerizing paint that was obviously applied by five different people, using five different hues and brushing with five different strokes. Instead of turning out a cringe-worthy muck, the songs and “Appreciation Night” as a whole, strikes as a microcosm of life spent loving music unabashedly, getting caught up with the most thrilling aspects of song, taking them to heart and striving to make something as relevant and influential as their influences. A lot of records are considered journeys from the first song to the last and most times, that word is just the catchphrase that’s easiest to reach. There’s really no distance traveled in most songs or records. These songs and this record are pilgrimages, not journeys. They travel a minimal amount of familiar territory and then they track off into the underbrush where no one much wanders or strays. It’s here where these songs become structures – after a hell of a lot of searching and experimenting. These songs were labors. They’ve gone through so many lives that they probably couldn’t tell you their birthdays. Why aren’t more songs like this, trialing and erroring until finding that manna. – Sean Moeller

Bound Stems lead singer Bobby Galligan gives a short description of the four songs the band played here in our presence. If you look closely, his answers appear in quotation marks.

First song: Andover (Bound Stems) [3.87MB] [2383 downloads]


– original version appears on “Appreciation Night”
“I went to a funeral in Massachusetts and came back to Chicago. It’s about my first day back and my reaction to my neighborhood.”

Second song: Excellent News, Colonel (Bound Stems) [4.19MB] [2426 downloads]


– original version appears on “Appreciation Night”
“I received a letter from a good friend that was supposed to visit. She explained that she couldn’t and I explained that she should.”

Third song: Refuse the Refuse (Bound Stems) [3.94MB] [2230 downloads]


– original version appears on “Appreciation Night”
“Chicago at night with a good friend.”

Fourth song: Risking Life and Limb for the Coupon (Bound Stems) [4.06MB] [2316 downloads]


– original version appears on “Appreciation Night”
“Liberal arts college romance.”