Better Than Nevermind No.2 : Codeine - Frigid Stars LP

Codeine - Frigid Stars LP (SubPop)

Anyone interested in innovative rock music from the nineties cannot ignore Codeine. Difficult to deny that, as initiators of the slo-core genre, Codeine single-handedly gave teenage slack, pre-millenium anxiety and post-Eighties depression a soundtrack that partly takes roots in early Swans (we'll go back to those guys later). But the tone here is delicate and brooding, not apocalyptic and cathartic. The album starts slow and stays slow, if not lethargic, while remaining striking and powerful as hardcore, the first song setting the tone with a recitation that makes the listener wonder why the singer didn't say 'D for Depressive' at some point in the song. The singing recalls Nick Drake but with a wisp of emotion that, when it seeps through, is as unnerving as when the music abruptly stops. Songs like Cave-In or 3 Angels hit hard because the sparse notes drag you onto the ground with such efficiency while pounding you in a black hole of emotions. 

With the progress of each track, you are mercilessly discombobulated by the disheartening and nonchalant radiation as if emanating from a collapsing dark star. And when bassist/singer Stephen Immerwahr intones 'To be one mile high/I would kill you all/What I gave to you/Just meant nothing' the impact of the verses hits you like a ton of pitch black bricks. Even peers like Galaxie 500 did not delve and dig deeper into those abysses of the human mind (full disclosure: I think Galaxie 500 was great). Even though the album flounders once (New Year's), it remains to this day the flawless debut of a genre that rarely shines both intrinsically and musically. Frigid stars indeed, still shining black in the indie sky.