Like Pioneers : Piecemeal

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/likepioneerspiecemeal.jpg" alt=" " />Stems are reBound as the alt-country Like Pioneers. ...
7.7 Abandoned Love
2010 

Like Pioneers : Piecemeal The indie music business can be a fickle one.  There’s not exactly a ton of money in it (that’s kind of the point…), so most independent musicians have other jobs – even many of the more successful ones (income is also supplemented by licensing).  And in today’s economic climes, plus the ‘internet file-sharing’ bugaboo, don’t exactly help things.  So little bands you love often break-up (see: QRO fave Harlem Shakes – QRO Tribute To) or go into ‘permanent hiatus’, and you can only hope some/most of the members stay in the business/art.  Thankfully, that is the case with Chicago’s Bound Stems (QRO spotlight on) – after one of the members moved to St. Louis in late 2008, the rest more recently got back together, and along with some new members, formed Like Pioneers and made Piecemeal, retaining the interesting indie-pop stylings while going in a more alt-country direction.

The airy touch of "Some People" opens Piecemeal, but the standout/single is the track that follows, "English Garden".  Admittedly reminiscent in its rhythm and vocals of indie-pop sensations Vampire Weekend (QRO live review), "Garden" is so sweetly engaging & ultra-nice that even Vampire-haters will love it.  The subsequent "Gift From a Holiday" finds Like Pioneers at their best in alt-country, thanks to indie rhythm & undertones that are nicely laid in.  In general, the band is still stronger with their indie side than the newer country, as short indie-call "Crop Circles Plus Legs" or fuzzier "Metal Oscar" are superior to the sweet, but a bit too simply sweet pieces like "Polkadot" or closer "Crab Candy".  And the band is better when they go bigger: while the piano-man goodbye "Teakettles No. 1" feels a little indulgent at times, the somewhat up-anthemistic following "Ike" improves when it goes bigger & broader nearer its end.

When drummer Evan Salt left Chicago for St. Louis and apparently took the ‘Bound Stems’ name with him, the group folded and the rest returned to their day jobs.  But Stems was never a band big enough, or with big enough heads, for the members to lose touch with the real world – so even after the break-up, they were also able to never lose touch with their musical world.  Like Pioneers’ Piecemeal isn’t quite as ultra-literate as the last Stems record, The Family Afloat (QRO review) – no references to Churchill or his wife in this one – but that only makes for a more sweetly engaging return.

MP3 Stream: "English Garden"

{audio}/mp3/files/Like Pioneers – English Garden.mp3{/audio}

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