The early-'90s New York trio
Codeine were one of the founders of the slowcore scene that included groups like
Bedhead,
American Analog Set, and
Low. Taking audible inspiration from the third
Velvet Underground album and scene pioneers
Galaxie 500, but adding a more aggressive tone and slowing the tempos down even further,
Codeine sounded almost entirely unique at the time. However, their style was immediately adopted by a number of other new bands.
Codeine were formed in 1989 by bassist/singer
Stephen Immerwahr, guitarist John Engle, and drummer
Chris Brokaw. Their demo, a tortured version of the
Pete Ham/
Tom Evans classic "Without You" that stretches the four-minute song out to nine, got the band signed to Glitterhouse Records in Europe and Sub Pop in the U.S. the following year. Their debut album,
Frigid Stars LP, was released by Glitterhouse in late 1990 and Sub Pop in the spring of 1991 to generally positive reviews.
A lengthy EP,
Barely Real, came out in 1992. Although the record varies
Codeine's sound a bit with piano by ex-
Squirrel Bait member turned art rocker
David Grubbs (
Codeine had toured Europe with
Grubbs' instrumental group Bastro) and a noise guitar freakout by
Bitch Magnet leader Jon Fine, plus a cover of MX-80 Sound's "Promise of Love,"
Barely Real is basically a continuation of the style perfected on
Frigid Stars LP.
Beginning in 1991,
Brokaw was pulling double duty, playing drums in
Codeine and guitar in
Thalia Zedek's band
Come.
Brokaw finally left
Codeine in late 1992 to devote his full energies to his other band. After an already planned U.S. tour went ahead with
Brokaw's hastily selected temporary replacement,
Antietam's
Josh Madell, Engle and
Immerwahr began auditioning for a permanent drummer who could match their agonizingly slow tempos.
Douglas Scharin, a member of the Brooklyn chamber rock quartet
Rex (who, unlike
Brokaw, managed to maintain his dual band memberships), was selected and the newly reconfigured trio spent a summer in
Grubbs' hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, tweaking old material for touring purposes and writing new songs.
A single produced by
Grubbs, "Tom," was released in the fall of 1993, followed by the full-length
The White Birch in April 1994. Slightly more melodic than the earlier albums, but just as languorously paced,
The White Birch is probably the group's best record. After an extensive U.S. tour, the trio split amicably to work on other projects.
Scharin returned to
Rex, then later worked with the instrumental post-rock project
HIM and the harder-edged
June of 44.
Immerwahr started a new band,
Raymond.
In 2011,
Codeine were contacted by the Numero Group about re-releasing all their albums in one giant box set. When I See the Sun, which featured almost as many bonus tracks as previously released album tracks, was released in early summer of 2012. Around the same time, the band reunited (at the request of longtime fans
Mogwai) to play a handful of festivals and concert dates. ~ Stewart Mason