Through a Cobweb on the Wall--Graeme Jefferies' Cakekitchen

Watch it Climb and Fall. Like the Clock Upon the Wall.

World of Sand is a somewhat forgotten great kiwi album. This album is a tonic to those who have a stereotypical view of New Zealand music as jingle jangle sunny Byrdsy Beatley pop music, like Crowded House or The Chills. Cakekitchen is Graeme Jefferies' band, formerly of This Kind Of Punishment and Nocturnal Projections, brother to Peter Jefferies. The music is noisy Velvet Underground inspired rock interspersed with moody ballads, with Graeme's deep and dour vocals running over the top of all like aged port. An album haunted with stately eloquence.

The disc opens with Ordeal By Water a noisy dirge building to a close with huge distorted shards of guitar.The title track, World of Sand is a gorgeous sad ballad with a wonderful interplay between Graeme's acoustic guitar and the violin of the talented Alastair Galbraith. The song is a flat out classic. And it's followed by the itchy hard rocking punky Walking On Glass. A noisy filling rattling kinetic sonic workout.

Such Honesty Walks A Brittle Line

Don't Be Fooled By The Label, is a classically sounding ballad with buzzing viola with morose melodious vocals. After that comes a stunner and my personal favorite on an album of favorites, Tomorrow Came Today, a quiet mellow tune filled with evocative lyrics that crescendos to high volume guitar by the end. The songs on this album could have been used for the soundtrack to an experimental play. The songs are notable for his use of loud and quiet, often changing into something quite different at the end. This Perfect Day is almost a trance-inducing drone reminding me a little like Moroccan Jajouka music in a way. McCarthy is another 4 sinister minutes of delightful guitar squall.

I like all the songs on this record but the final song Crimson and Gunmetal is one of the highlights of the album, featuring shared vocals with Denise Roughan of Look Blue Go Purple and grandiose epic guitar riffing. Dogs and Cats is pleasant sounding pop with xylophone accompaniment. Isle of Pittsburgh is also a sunnier sounding acoustic pop. In some ways the album is a bit schizophrenic, but the mix of songs works for me. This record is a great forgotten album from the 90's--trends and scenes come and go, but good music is timeless.