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CMJ New Music Report
GRAEME JEFFERIES Messages For the Cakekitchen (Ajax, P.O. Box (805293, Chicago, IL 60680-4114/312-772-4783)
New Zealander Graeme Jefferies is responsible for the Cakekitchen´s enveloping waves of sound and also played a part, along with his brother Peter, in Nocturnal Projections and This Kind of Punishment. A much sparser affair than either of the Cakekitchen´s two LPs Messages For The Cakekitchen, originally released by Flying Nun in 1988, was recorded entirely on a four-track by Jefferies with only a few contributions from friends. Like many artists recording in the Xpressway camp, he stretches the limits of four-track recording, forcing it to encapsulate the emotion of the moment but tempering its spontaneity with sufficently premeditated arrangement to keep the songs together. Jefferies unusual voice, at once haunting and graceful, provides a soul purging atmosphere to the edgy music: melodic guitar picking battles six-string hailstorms while percussion, generated by everything from drum and cymbal to clanging keys and incidental noises, provides an unsettling undertow. Sculpting intense, poetic moods out of the barest elements, Jefferies has fashioned an immensely personal yet plainly approachable solo album. Picks: “Reason To Keep Swimming,” “Prisoner Of A Single Passion”” (featuring vocals by Maxine Fleming), “Nothing That’s New” and “If The Moon Dies.” -Lydia Anderson
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