Codeine/The White Birch

The familiar and unusually cold report of a kick drum greets us in "Sea," the first track of premier slowcore outfit Codeine's second and final full-length The White Birch. Switching seamlessly from the wandering cracks and clicks of the drumkit to a wash of sudden guitar and feedback, and led hand-in-hand by a strained voice speak-singing lyrics of lost time, mute paralysis, and resignation, it's a record that sticks with you long after the last chord; for though the droning, edge-of-sleep melodies and pacing can be forgotten soon enough, the ghost of the White Birch isn't so set on leaving. Its lyrics are ostensibly simplistic - but closer examination finds them pervaded with a curious child's sense wonder at the complex and vibrant world about him, and the horror which comes with realizing too late the merits of imagination. Childhood is wistfully recalled in the form of an inspired melody, but is soon lost in an encroaching and suffocating, monotonous and pessimistic wave of sound. But I could be wrong. I've never posted to a music blog before.

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