The next level: Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite on the impact of Codeine
When we think about our emotional attachment to music, we often think about the lyrics and their meaning. It is easier to connect with words because they literally spell out for us what a song is about. However, the lyrics aren’t the be-all and end-all of where our connection with music starts and stops; quite the opposite, as Stuart Braithwaite and bands like Mogwai can attest to.
Mogwai are champions of the crescendo, with a unique understanding of music that means listeners of their albums and attendees of their gigs can be taken on emotional journeys through just sound alone. Their ability to use noise and instrumentation elements means they can explore the universe without uttering a single syllable. Their music holds up today, over 20 years after the band’s inception, as a testament to their ability as musicians.
In Stuart Braithwaite’s book Spaceships Over Glasgow, a large section is dedicated to his love of live gigs. He started going when he was young, occasionally dressing up as a woman to sneak into venues and not have his unshaven face give away that he was too young to be there. From then on, his life was enveloped by music as he would frequently go to gigs to see what kind of music was made and what he could connect with.
The result is a list of live experiences that any music lover would be envious of as he writes about the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Nirvana and The Cure as if they were close relatives, the impact they had on his attitude to music – and subsequently his attitude to life – inadmissible. However, one band whose music he saw as a real turning point was Codeine’s.
Not spoken about enough, Codeine formed in New York in 1989 and released two excellent albums, Frigid Stars LP and The White Birch. The band split up shortly after the release of their second album, but how they could construct music has contributed massively to the slowcore subgenre, and they are constantly referenced as inspirations by shoegaze bigwigs.
Speaking of which, “I responded to the minimalism, the raw sadness of the music,” said Braithwaite when asked about his feelings towards Codeine. “I’d grown up on The Cure so already had a penchant for uncheery music. Codeine took that to the next level. You weren’t going to play Frigid Stars LP at parties, but it was beautiful: the lyrics bare and honest, the musicality sparing.”
To be a successful instrumental band, being able to tap into the emotion contained within music is crucial; otherwise, you will end up playing a repetitive riff that becomes boring. Mogwai are masters of the emotive instrumental, and Stuart Braithwaites’ massive range of tastes in the group will largely contribute to this. Codeine opened a previously closed door, and Braithwaite has been borrowing from the room it led to ever since.
