Peter Fox

In early 2006 Pierre Baigorry, also known as Enuff and Peter Fox, stepped away from his role as one of three lead voices in the globally successful dancehall collective Seeed and retreated to his Kreuzberg studio to shape a project of his own. More accustomed to working behind the mixing desk than fronting a microphone, he planned to remain in the shadows and give his taxed voice a chance to recover. He had earmarked Atlanta soul-rapper Cee-Lo Green for the foreground, having been struck by the American’s delivery during sessions for Seeed’s third album, Next!, the previous year. Green had accepted the invitation and agreed to travel to Germany once his commitments with Danger Mouse on a separate endeavor were complete. Shortly afterward, however, Gnarls Barkley’s debut single “Crazy” exploded into a global phenomenon, leaving the singer with scant opportunity to appear on his Berlin colleague’s record.

Baigorry responded with characteristic flexibility, settled on a fresh stage name, and resumed work. Rather than courting an international listenership as first envisioned, the lifelong Berlin resident chose to compose his verses in German, delivered with his unmistakable local inflection. Longtime lyric partner Monk joined him in the writing process, while Seeed’s DJ Illvibe and the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg supplied the sonic architecture for the resulting album, Stadtaffe (Cityape). Warner, the artist’s label, mounted an extensive campaign that propelled the singles “Alles Neu” and “Haus Am See” high onto national radio playlists. To support the release, Fox assembled a touring ensemble in late 2008 whose scale rivaled that of his main band; the orchestra featured on the record traveled with him instead of being replaced by samples. The tour’s strong reception yielded the live album Live aus Berlin in 2009.