Peter Jefferies

Like his brother Graeme, who leads the Cakekitchen, New Zealand singer/instrumentalist Peter Jefferies' earliest musical performances were in Nocturnal Projections, followed in the mid-'80s by This Kind of Punishment (the dark but at times quite stunning cult band which achieved much greater notice after they were active). Following TKP's final dissolution, Jefferies actively pursued a solo career while also assisting and collaborating with a wide number of his fellow Kiwi musicians, serving as something close to an in-house producer for the legendary Xpressway label. As a musician, Jefferies has at times drawn comparisons to other artists; his piano skill and non-musical but affecting, deep vocals often call to mind John Cale. However, Jefferies is very hard to pin down; it's far more easy to see how his abilities at using four-track machines to create at-times intentionally rough, often very intimate recordings helped forecast the eventual lo-fi boom, while avoiding the typically sloppy feel that the term is generally associated with. In the early '90s, Jefferies' overseas profile started to grow rapidly after Chicago's Ajax label began issuing both a number of his then-current releases and singles, as well as licensing old TKP albums for release. Further musical ventures were the result, most notably with Mecca Normal singer Jean Smith, who collaborated with Jefferies in Two Foot Flame. Jefferies himself signed to Trance Syndicate sublabel Emperor Jones, resulting in two more solo albums before the parent label went bankrupt in 1999.