New Projects
Biography
Releases
Tour
History
Merchandise
Gallery
Reviews
Articles
Contact
 
Hoot Hoot
 
  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
 
 
 
   © Cakekitchen 2020