This Kind Of Punishment – S/T [LP]

"In the fertile terrain of New Zealand's 1980s post-punk scene, few figures loom as large as the Jefferies brothers. Graeme Jefferies and Peter Jefferies -- the primary forces behind This Kind Of Punishment -- wrote some of the best music to come out on Flying Nun, Xpressway or elsewhere. A dizzying mix of pastoral ballads and DIY experimentation, TKP's songwriting was at once classic and acutely raw. On their self-titled debut, the Jefferies brothers and Chris Matthews eschew the punk-informed modes of their contemporaries for a sound that is decidedly more deliberate / intimate. Rooted in a marriage between simplistic, classically-influenced piano, alternating guitar chime and sparse, subtle violin drone, This Kind Of Punishment is a contemplative, inventive collection of ideas corralled via economic 4-track recordings, minimal instrumentation and an austere performance style entirely of the Jefferies' own making. Songs like 'After The Fact,' 'In View Of The Circumstances' and 'Two Minutes Drowning' boast a living quality whereby the listener can act as bystander to these moments of creation -- a trait that the band would expand upon throughout the course of their brief tenure. First-time vinyl reissue since its initial release in 1983."

Superior Viaduct, 2018