Codeine Tickets

The 90's band Codeine is playing a handful of northeast shows in support of their lost album Dessau, recorded in 1992 with founding drummer and guitarist Chris Brokaw and released last year by archival label Numero Group. This will be Codeine's first Boston show in more than a decade, and first Philadelphia and D.C. shows in three decades, following two sold-out shows in New York City and Numero Group's birthday party in LA earlier this year. With the release of their first record, Frigid Stars LP (1990), Codeine almost single-handedly invented what would later -- somewhat cloyingly -- become known as "slowcore." Predating influential albums by kindred spirits Low and Bedhead by almost half a decade, Codeine's slow, graceful songs supported lyrics that were like a disturbingly pure embodiment of depression. Recorded in June 1992 at Harold Dessau Recording studio in New York City, Dessau consists almost entirely of alternate versions of songs later rerecorded by the band. The sessions were ultimately abandoned for reasons that included high-frequency noises audible only to one band member, flooding, and Chris Brokaw's departure as full-time guitar hero in Boston's Come. Two songs appeared on Codeine's Barely Real EP. A handful of others would end up on The White Birch(1994), in versions starker and more epic, recorded with powerhouse drummer Doug Scharin (later of Rex, June of 44).Codeine ground to a halt in 1995, their final release being a cover of Joy Division's "Atmosphere," which more recently found its way onto the tv series, 13 Reasons Why. In 2012, Numero Group successful guided the band through a substantial re-issue project. The original two LPs and EP were each paired with a second record of additional recordings, released both separately and collectively as the box set, When I See the Sun. With the encouragement of longtime fans Mogwai, that summer Codeine played a handful of UK/EU festivals and a dozen US shows in support of the releases, ending in New York in July 2012, seemingly for good. Last year, Numero Group resurrected the Dessau recordings, which have been released with the original art planned for the album: a turbulent green and blue painting by American tonalist Thomas Wilmer Dewing.