Codeine
The White Birch

★★★

Codeine is an essential part of what would come to be the midwest post-rock / emo scene of the 90s. Here they seem to borrow a lot and not really innovate from those borrowings. Almost like a Slint copy cat done well. 

That's why it's still good in my eyes, but I'm still not really a slowcore fan. Yet the hushed lyrics and instrumentation behind it seem to work cohesively enough that it creates an environment of its own. 

The set up for each of these songs remains quite the same, without much variation, which really is a shame. The instruments seem to be barely latching on, and every now and then they seem to release themselves. That's unlike Stephen's vocals, which also seem to be on the verge of giving up but are never given that opportunity to break free.

I think it does grow on you more as the album progresses but not really enough for me to want to relisten to the whole thing. It works for a specific mood and I'll give it that; but I'm just not in it. 

Favorite Song: Wird

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