The final Codeine release, The White Birch, finds the band stretching out beyond their usual style here and there, while still pretty much sounding like they always have. It's not quite a case of "heard one, heard them all," but at points, it's hard to see how they would have continued without completely repeating themselves. There is a slight change in the lineup, with drummer Douglas Scharin replacing Chris Brokaw, at that time fully involved with Come, while David Grubbs once again guests, playing guitar on "Tom" and "Wird." He's not fully noticeable on either track per se, but his playing doesn't take away anything from the overall mood or performance, either. John Engle's own lead guitar work here often has a stronger, stentorian sense of playing than before, in part resulting from the greater sense of space in a number of songs. While there was a relative calm on moments of Frigid Stars, here there's even more of it -- it's not quite relaxed, but allows more stripped-down moments to come in along with the thicker roil of cuts like "Vacancy" and the searing, compressed snarl on "Washed Up." The opening cut, "Sea," captures that well, especially given that Stephen Immerwahr's vocals are as lost and murky in the mix as they've ever been. Other moments betray what sounds like a Slint touch here and there, not surprising given the Louisville connection via Grubbs and others (indeed, Louisville as a whole is specifically thanked in the credits). Scharin, meanwhile, throws in a couple of extra fills and subtle touches along the way, though whether this results from what he brings to the band or just a change in style is not immediately apparent. Ending with the soft contemplation of "Smoking Room," White Birch sees out Codeine's career on a strong enough note. [The Numero Group's 2012 reissue of The White Birch adds eight bonus tracks that nearly double the album's running time. As with the other Numero reissues, the tracks here are well-chosen and add an added dimension to the record. The most educational of the songs are the three taken from a Peel session ("Median," "Loss Leader," "Sure Looks That Way"), and a live version of "D," which show that the trio sounded basically the same on-stage as in the studio. The demos of "Ides" and "Smoking Room" are nice to hear, and "Something New," the B-side of the "Tom" single, and a faithful cover of Joy Division's "Atmosphere," taken from the A Means to an End compilation, round out the set perfectly.] ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi

1		Sea
2		Loss Leader
3		Vacancy
4		Kitchen Light
5		Washed Up
6		Tom
7		Ides
8		Wird
9		Smoking Room
10		Median
11		Loss Leader
12		Sure Looks That Way
13		D
14		Atmosphere
15		Something New
16		Ides
17		Smoking Room

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