The White Birch

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The White Birch
Studio album by Codeine
Recorded 1994
Genre Slowcore

The White Birch is a 1994 album by the New York band Codeine. Widely acclaimed on its release, the album is considered to be one of the defining records of the slowcore movement and was a clear influence on Low, among other bands. On their earlier albums Frigid Stars and Barely Real, the band had already pioneered a distinctive sound, characterised by remarkably slow tempos and a stripped-down aesthetic - with songs rarely venturing beyond the combination of a sharp, robust rhythm section underlying crisply ringing guitars - but it was only on The White Birch that Codeine cemented their reputation amongst the foremost indie-rock groups of the early 1990s. Along with Slint's 1991 album Spiderland, the album also paved the way for the post-rock movement, developing an aesthetic that shifted sharply between clean and heavily distorted guitars in a way that few bands had previously explored - a style that would prove to be a huge influence on bands such as Mogwai and Shipping News.

[edit] Track listing

  1. Sea
  2. Loss Leader
  3. Vacancy
  4. Kitchen Light
  5. Washed Up
  6. Tom
  7. Ides
  8. Wird
  9. Smoking Room