CODEINE (US)
CODEINE (US, Numero Group)
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Early slowcore pioneers | “Leve Codeine, leve de traagheid”
Tickets on sale on Friday, October 23rd, 10h.
After a brief European tour in 2023 (including sold-out shows in London and Paris), and more recent performances in South America and Japan, 90’s band Codeine returns to play a dozen shows in support of their lost album Dessau, recorded in 1992 but recently(ish) released by the archival label Numero Group, along with remastered vinyl of their original Sub Pop/Glitterhouse records.
With the release of Frigid Stars LP (1990), Codeine almost single-handedly invented what would later become known as “slowcore.” Predating influential albums by kindred spirits Low and Duster by half a decade, Codeine’s slow, graceful songs support lyrics that are a disturbingly gentle embodiment of depression and disassociation.
Codeine – D (HD Visualizer)ABOUT DESSAU
Recorded June 1992 at Harold Dessau Recording studio in New York City with founding drummer/guitarist Chris Brokaw, Dessau consists of alternate versions of songs later re-recorded for their Barely Real EP and The White Birch, the latter with drummer Doug Scharin (Rex/June of 44). Numero Group resurrected the Dessau recordings, now released with the original planned artwork: a turbulent blue-green painting by American tonalist Thomas Wilmer Dewing.
“Dessau arguably stands as the best of Codeine’s three albums, a perfect snapshot of the existential anxiety that can arrive in one’s late 20s, when adolescence fades far into the rearview, but the future is closing in fast.” –Grayson Haver Currin/Bandcamp
PERSONAL QUOTE
“I was very reluctant to play again, afraid to breathe life into these songs again. But talking to people who hadn’t seen the band back then and to whom the music means a lot has absolutely changed my mind, not just about playing but also about what music is actually for. And we’ve been honored by the response to our shows, with even people singing along! So I want to bring that new focus and understanding to these shows now.”
–Stephen Immerwahr
“Listen to Stephen Immerwahr’s dour poetry, John Engle’s tolling guitars, and Chris Brokaw’s glacial drumming, and picture falling snow. The sound, which typified the slowcore indie-rock sub-genre, is so chilling, precise, and beguilingly extreme — shy, then crashing — that it recalibrates the vast spaces around each inquisitive note. It becomes an exploration of tone and tension, and a desolate meditation.” – The New Yorker USA 2023
“Codeine kwam van ver en overspoelde ons met verleden: dikke bassen en mooie woorden uit 1992 vonden hun weg naar fans van toen en jonge nektapijten van nu. De wijze woorden en authentieke emotie van Dessau zijn dertig jaar oud, maar kennen klaarblijkelijk geen houdbaarheidsdatum. Meer nog, ze lijken extra te resoneren bij een resem gen Z’ers, nog niet geboren toen in 1992, maar gisteren wel op de eerste rij. Leve Codeine, leve de traagheid.”
– Dansende Beren BEL 2023
“Codeine has some antecedents, from Pink Floyd and Neil Young — Mr. Immerwahr shares his high-tenor register — to the arty post-punk of bands like MX-80, but it forged its own sound. Its songs start out quiet and sparse, only to gather volume and gravity, crashing and tolling, yet somehow staying austere, even diffident. They crest and then fall away, often with a lingering instrumental coda, ending up no more fulfilled than they were as they began. The music was grunge’s withdrawn, desolate cousin. The era’s preferred suffix was “-core,” so Codeine was tagged “slowcore” and “sadcore,” mini-genres that would be continued by bands like Low and Red House Painters after Codeine disbanded.”
– New York Times USA 2012
“Codeine’s deliberate pace suited songs freighted with Immerwahr’s angst. “My emotional state, my disassociation from others, was the core of it,” he admits. But this music was emotional without the histrionics of grunge. “It was a reaction to that Eddie Vedder style of singing. What suited these songs, my own lived experience, was something smaller, something anti-epic.” Possessed of a simmering power, their 1990 debut album Frigid Stars LP was championed in the UK by John Peel.”
– The Guardian UK 2023
Presale/door prices adjusted: our events are set up by volunteers in favour of supporting DIY touring acts, but it is getting ever more risky to plan and book events – please support the community and buy your tickets early! Presale closes 18.00 on day of the show.
