Though their initial lifespan only lasted a few years, a lot changed for archetypal slowcore band
Codeine between the time of their 1990 debut,
Frigid Stars LP, and their 1994 swan song,
The White Birch. In June of 1992, the band began sessions intended to yield a second LP, but for various reasons, those sessions were shelved. Original drummer
Chris Brokaw left the group shortly thereafter to focus on playing with his other band,
Come, and future
June of 44 drummer
Doug Scharin took his place. The new lineup (along with
Gastr del Sol's
David Grubbs) completed second album
The White Birch just before
Codeine disbanded in 1994, creating a masterpiece of metered, wintery melancholia that influenced generations of post-rock and slow-motion indie sounds that followed.
Dessau returns to those abandoned sessions from 1992, when
Brokaw was still drumming for the band and they were trying to piece together a second record. Half of
Dessau's eight tracks were eventually re-recorded for
The White Birch, and these versions are significantly more forceful than the precise and dynamic final versions. Compared side by side,
Dessau versions of "Sea" and "Tom" feel more distorted and aggressive than their
White Birch counterparts -- by no means fast but considerably more rushed and nervy than the exceptionally restrained album versions. With an emphasis on vocalist/bassist
Stephen Immerwahr's pained yelps and a tempo that wants to keep pushing just a little bit faster, the
Dessau version of "Wird" sounds almost punk by
Codeine standards. Two of the remaining songs, "Jr." and "Realize," showed up in different forms on the band's 1992 EP,
Barely Real, and the final songs, "Something New" and "I Wonder," are gentler entries in the band's discography. The spare acoustic guitars of "I Wonder" have a similar somber twang to "Broken Hearted Wine," another
Codeine rarity that shows a slightly different side than their slow-drip heaviness.
Dessau gets even deeper in uncovering a lost transitional phase in
Codeine's evolution and is an interesting companion piece to their final album. It might not be a great entry point for those new to their sound but will be essential listening for anyone already invested in the band or in how their work guided the trajectory of slowcore on the whole. ~ Fred Thomas
