Messages for the Cakekitchen

Personnel: Graeme Jefferies (vocals, various instruments); Maxine Fleming (vocals, keyboards); Gary Sullivan (drums).
Messages serves as a very fine introduction to Graeme Jefferies' phase of work that eventually resulted in his new group the Cakekitchen. Although brother Peter Jefferies helped mix Messages, this is Graeme's show all the way (the one notable exception being the very Velvet Underground-like guitar/violin/keyboards composition "Prisoner of a Single Passion," sung and partially performed by occasional This Kind of Punishment participant Maxine Fleming). Unsurprisingly, Messages' roots in TKP's arty, claustrophobic take on mysterious post-punk come to the fore throughout, while avoiding simple rehash of the past. The opening track alone is worth it; a lovely, dark little gem, "All the Colours Run Dry" meshes Jefferies' distinct baritone with a quietly soaring guitar chime. Similar songs like "The Cardhouse" create a feeling of gentle, fragile beauty that lasts throughout the record, resulting in a much more serene listening experience than the TKP albums have provided. This said, the abstract guitar aggressiveness which helped infuse TKP's work with a sharp kick also returns here as well, sometimes more forcefully, as on "Reason to Keep Swimming" during which Jefferies' voice turns unpleasantly strangled. At other points that aggressive sound crops up more subtly, as in the counterpoint feedback snarl to the main melody of "Nothing That's New." Jefferies also isn't beyond a bit of total creepiness; when the vocals get an overlay of high-pitched distortion on "The Greenkeepers," the effect is at once whimsical and unnerving. Perhaps the strongest fusion of elegance and roughness surfaces on "The Simple Tapestry of Fate," with lovely keyboard and mandolin lines intentionally mixed with tape hiss and low-level fuzz, foreshadowing similar approaches in future years from bands like Flying Saucer Attack. ~ Ned Raggett