Stamen & Pistils came together during 2003 as Raul Zahir De Leon and Miguel Lacsamana took some of their collaborations over the previous year on various other projects and began to work in a more focused fashion. S&P became an outlet for a more direct, instrument based songwriting process, opposed to the intricate sample based work of some of their prior work. Over the next year, Stamen & Pistils developed into a primary effort as the began the songwriting which would lead to their 2005 debut effort,"End of the Sweet Parade". This release, a foray into dense experimental pop, would gain them critical recognition by diverse sources such as The Wire and The Washington Post. Their latest release, Towns, strips away a large part of that sonic density and opts for a more transparent approach. Much more refined melodies strengthen their folk tunes, while retaining a sense of experimentation in their song structure.

The band has shared the stage with bands such as The Dirty Projectors, Telepathe, Asobi Seksu, The Blow, Dear Nora, YACHT, and more.

Coming out of Washington DC, they come with a sound very atypical of what is commonly expected to come out of the city. The music is largely acoustic based pop, filled out with programmed beats and synths to form a sort of controlled chaos. Influenced as much by the future as by anachronism. While recognizing and respecting the long standing music traditions of the city, Stamen & Pistils aim to create something new and sincerely their own: a highly textured sonic pallet of fuzzy pop, deconstructed just enough to remain consistently innovative.