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The Family Afloat

by

Bound Stems

 
The Family Afloat
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Avg: 4.0 (52 ratings)

Unexpected turns, successful reaches, music propelled by impatience

  • We Say...

    Review by Lindsey Thomas

    Given that most of the members of Bound Stems grew up in a Chicago suburb with the big city just out of reach, it makes sense that the indie-rock quintet would linger on small-town settings and the escapist fantasies they inspire.

    Bobby Gallivan, whose voice recalls Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock at his world-weariest, tells stories about dead-end jobs and dreams of leaving town. "She says we've got one foot out the door" go the words to "Happens to Us All Otherwise," between workaday orders to "march 'til you fall" and "run in an effort to keep in one place." Without the track's ebullient beat, the words read like death sentences.

    Like its characters, the music is propelled by a sort of impatience. Songs take unexpected turns, pushing seemingly unconnected sections up against one another. Sometimes throwing a few instruments on a track satisfies the need for something new. On "Clear Water and Concrete," a digitally manipulated piano line flows through backward strings, gentle background vocals and whistling, turning a few licks of melody into a constantly morphing tune.

    In Bound Stems' more grandiose moments of prosaic storytelling, comparisons to Arcade Fire are sure to come up. The bands are working off the same idea: Just add a banjo and some typewriter clicks, and the everyday turns gorgeously momentous.

  • They Say...

    Review by Tim Sendra, All Music Guide

    The Bound Stems brand of hyper-literate, high-energy rock & roll is destined to earn them comparisons to the Arcade Fire, especially when speaking of their second album The Family Afloat. Fair enough, they do share a similarly brainy approach and both are happy to load the songs with plenty of instruments and voices. The difference is that the Bound Stems owe more to the wordy emo of bands like Mates of State or Tilly and the Wall or the twitchy math rock of Polvo than the epic bombast of the Boss. Also there's a wild energy and abandon to the Bound Stems' sound that helps put the songs across and gives them their own identity. Though sometimes the energy threatens to send things spinning out of control, there is enough grounding the album (the massed voices-singing history teacher by day Bobby Gallivan's knotty and short story-esque lyrics, the wiry guitars that give the songs an electrical charge, Evan Sult's nimble drumming) to keep it listenable throughout. Some of the slower songs like "Clear Water & Concrete" let down the side a bit as they tend to drag, especially in comparison to the uptempo tracks that sound like they are about to burst out of the speakers. The songs that really connect, though, like the woozily dramatic epic "Cloak of Blue Sky" and the thrilling "Taking Tips from the Gallery Gang," which opens the album with a kick to the head, are the equal of any Arcade Fire song, and added together make a case that the Bound Stems are on the trail of something pretty great on The Family Afloat.

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