Codeine's Final Album: The Magnificent WHITE BIRCH
Written: Nov 07 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: More contrast with regard to dynamics; seems like a better written album by Codeine
Cons: It's slowly paced, with often haunting lyrics
The Bottom Line: The White Birch is slow, often somewhat disturbing with its downbeat lyrics and melodies, but is probably the best representation of Codeine that exists.
xxxxer's Full Review: The White Birch * by Codeine
Having more dynamics, build-up and follow-through than either their debut LP Frigid Stars or subsequent EP Barely Real, Codeine's third and final release, 1994's The White Birch is the band's most fulfilling and well-developed album, a record that seems to perfectly capture what the band was shooting for during their brief existence. Founded in 1989 in New York City, Codeine was one of the first bands to experiment in the so-called "slow core" genre, in which tempos were slowed down to an agonizingly languid pace. The palette of instruments the band used was pretty familiar: pounding, although very slow, percussion rhythms (this time performed by new drummer Doug Scharin), the powerful and often grandiose guitar lines of John Engle, and the deep, sonorous bass lines and soft, nasally vocals of Stephen Immerwahr (whose delivery during the course of this album reminded me of Michael Stipe of R.E.M.).
For me, Codeine seems quite similar to other now legendary indie rock bands of the time. They seem to have the same approach as Kentucky's Slint, which perhaps shines through more on The White Birch than any other Codeine record. On this effort, Codeine seems to involve more varied dynamics, seeming to explode during certain points, whereas on their previous efforts, they seemed content to merely hint at the fact that they could, at any point, explode. This idea is especially evident on the second track "Loss Leader,"in which a chilled-out guitar, bass and drum jam is frequently interrupted by a positively bombastic chorus part, but the varied dynamics are included to a lesser level in other tracks as well.
The White Birch clearly captures Codeine at the top of their game. After an evocative but somewhat rough debut LP and an EP that was a promising glimpse of what was to come, the band really seemed to have come full circle on their third release. The instrumental parts on this album work together really well and seem to create just the right backdrop for Immerwahr's often haunted lyrics. Lyrically speaking, Immerwahr seems to be going for lyrics that don't necessarily express sadness (which is interesting in the context of the often oppressive and positively depressing instrumental parts), but rather hint at a coolness of the soul and feelings of being in solitude; they inhabit a feeling of being fundamentally different and distant from other people.
From its opening track, The White Birch seems to take the audience on a journey through this mind of Stephen Immerwahr. There are occasional moments where possibility shines through (the opener "Sea" may be one of Codeine's most "positive" sounding songs), but more often than not, the general mood here is somewhat despairing. "Kitchen Light" slowly escalates to nerve-wracking fever pitch at several times throughout, maintaining a haunted and mysterious feel, and the following track, the aptly titled "Washed Up," painfully represents feelings of being empty inside, observing reminders of the past but being unable to move on from them. The instrumental work here is very pensive, repeated bass notes seeming to represent the stabbing details talked about in Immerwahr's lyrics.
"Tom" is another track that talks about the eminent failure of being human: "How do you learn to try / why can't I?" sings Immerwahr, yet during the chorus (in which the lyrics have Immerwahr finding amusement in the suffering of others), the song sounds almost hopeful. The paranoid lyrics of "Ides" comes next, followed by a re-worked version of the piano solo "W" from the Barely Real EP. This re-worked track, named "Wird," accentuates the more downbeat themes of the piece, but has some moments of beauty scattered about as well, climaxing in an almost post-rock-like instrumental explosion. Immerwahr here delivers a sort of monologue much in the line of Slint, essentially about the drudgery of life.
The album concludes with "Smoking Room," a reflective track that has some painful lyrical imagery, but finally declares that the world "glitters, sparkles, and shines." The track has precisely played guitar parts that capture the slightly surreal lyrical quality. While it's somewhat brief and probably couldn't be considered to be vintage Codeine, it seems like an appropriate closer for the album and the band's run.
All in all, The White Birch is the penultimate Codeine record, one which seems to best represent the various ideas the band presented in their earlier recordings. The songs here are well-written and developed, seeming to have more diversity than previous Codeine tracks, and the entire disc seems more kinetic rather than stagnant. While the slow and methodical tempos that Codeine was based on are still present, it seems like this album has more "life" than any of the previous albums, and I'd have to say this is the band's masterpiece; Codeine really didn't develop over the years, their staple sound essentially remaining the same, but I daresay that there is definite improvement in their sound as evidenced by this third album. The White Birch might not be to every listener's taste, but I think for those who have run the gamut of the indie rock experience, this would be worth a listen if nothing else.
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