Late in their set (11 April), Codeine singer and bassist Stephen Immerwahr makes a comment comparing the band to being in hospital: "It's a good place to visit, but you don't want to stay here."
The world that Stephen's lyrics present (the crushing longing, naked introspection, diary-entry ennui, for lack of better description) is one the weight of which would likely collapse in upon itself if you immersed yourself in it for too long – and perhaps that is why this collective didn't last very long in their initial incarnation.Local supports The Silvermine Tapes' musical output lies somewhere between the pop hooks of frontman Max Mackinnon's other long-term endeavour Flat Stanley and his more esoteric project Elizabeth Prophet.
Being more soundtrack than post-rock their songs seem unfinished, near complete jams, instrumental near rock anthems albeit missing the usually obligatory vocal chorus hook.
At six members, twice the number of members in the two bands to follow, including two drummers, Jeremy comments it would take too long to introduce the band. 'Song Of A Thousand Names' is preceded with: "Here's a song we haven't played in a while. . . 20 years." Then clarifies: "We haven't played any songs in 20 years." Their set comes to a close with 'Live By The Sword', an intense driving, propulsive jam.
While I may not have been complementary regarding A Broken Sail when I last saw them supporting Papa M, tonight they fitted the bill perfectly, gradually commencing their set in such a way the set starts before you even notice.
The first instrumental song slowly builds with snail-pace until there is a physicality of volume that can't be ignored. Even between songs the other two members of the band move slowly, sloth-like while the guitarist retunes.
With the second song and first vocal of the night, it comes to mind this is not music you can dance to (although the audience sway and nod their heads in time), it is a form of folk music, post-rock lullabies at a massaging volume and I am not surprised when in-between songs I overhear someone say: "I nearly fell asleep but I’m enjoying it."
The dynamism of their last song wakes up the audience, seemingly in preparation for the main act, teasing with the promise of an explosive finale but petering out in a surprisingly satisfactory anticlimactic ending.
"Good evening. We are Codeine from the USA," is how Immerwahr introduces the band and his bandmates, including John Engle on guitar and "multi-intrumentalist" Chris Brokaw mainly on drums.
They commence their set with little fanfare appropriately playing 'D' the opening song from their full-length debut 'Frigid Stars LP'. While not exactly a segue, 'D' leads into the Slint-like 'Cigarette Machine' with barely a moment for the audience's generous applause.
The introspection of 'Barely Real' is as good an example as any of why Codeine are cited as forebears of the slowcore or sadcore musical movements of the mid to late '90s and onward. Let's hope it's not autobiography given the title of the next song, 'Loss Leader' and the meta aspect that comes to mind given the musical influence of Codeine in their wake.
After the drawn-out 'Sea', 'Pickup Song' is at times a wall of sound as well as country song. Joy Division's prophetic epitaph 'Atmosphere' is transformed, initially Stephen singing and playing almost solo.
In a previous age, without the benefit of being able to source set lists online in this age of information technology, it's likely some in the audience would not have realised it was a cover.
As their set comes near to a close, Chris steps out from behind the drum kit and takes Stephen's bass for the beautiful, melancholic 'Pea'. Having earlier praised the Adelaide Botanic Garden, Stephen is wholeheartedly sincere in his thanking the plants for terraforming the Earth, but I smile anyway.
Since there is nowhere to go to leave the stage, the trio awkwardly step to the side of the stage momentarily before 'returning' to encore, 'Cave-In' a late set highlight before the surprising stop-start structure of 'Promise Of Love'.
For their final song, Chris takes Stephen's bass again for what the latter describes as an unCodeine-like song and this is the uplifting 'Broken-Hearted Wine' with the two sharing a microphone in the final moments.
Given this reformation is somewhat of a nostalgia trip with regard to the release of the 'lost' demos 'Dessau' LP from 1992 preceding their sophomore 'The White Birch' LP, it will be interesting to see what the trio do next considering the successful ticket sales on this current but brief Australian tour.
