AMG Review of Logic of Building the Body Plan

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

Issued in anticipation of the Bound Stems' forthcoming full-length Appreciation Night, the EP The Logic of Building the Body Plan delivers chaotic, off-kilter pop with an unerring sense of drama -- points of comparison ranging from early Pavement to the Arcade Fire are not hyperbole, but richly deserved. Songs like "Wake Up, Ma and Pa Are Gone" and "My Kingdom for a Trundle Bed" are meta-pop collages, assembled from the remnants -- wheezing vocals, dissonant guitars, field recordings, and martial rhythms -- in a grab bag that achieves a cumulative force endlessly greater than the sum of its parts. Very big, very soon.