Broadcast 2000, the musical brainchild of multitalented singer-songwriter Joe Steer, is following the debut EP Building Blocks with the self-titled full-length LP Broadcast 2000. This time around Steer spiced up his bedroom recordings with violin parts recorded by acclaimed violinist Tom Hobden of Noah and the Whale and teamed up with star producer Eliot James (Kaiser Chiefs/Bloc Party) to put the finishing touches to a record full of mesmerizing orchestral folk-pop compositions. The tracks are veritable symphonic gems featuring smoothly layered vocal stylings and complex yet harmonious musical arrangements that include double bass, cello, guitar, ukulele, glockenspiel and percussion all sung and played on the recordings by Steer himself. Steer began writing songs while in his early teens in rural Devon, “Growing up in the middle of Devon means you have little else that could possibly occupy your time apart from music. No football teams to support, no high street or shopping centre to hang around in. In fact, the majority of my school buddies were in bands.” After playing in a number of bands as a teen, Steer studied music and played in an orchestra before starting the band Artisan. When his long time co-writer and Artisan band mate Lee Schofield decided to move to Africa, Joe resolved to pursue his own project. He ensconced himself in his north London flat and proceeded to experiment, writing the songs he would later record, and, unexpectedly for him, sing, on the EP Building Blocks: “Although I’ve never really thought of myself as a vocalist, I started writing the Broadcast 2000 songs always thinking I’d just put some vocals on as a guide, then get a proper singer to sing them once I was happy with the tune.” Needless to say, his captivating tenor is once again featured on the new release. The new album fully justifies Steer’s move to branch out of the confines of his home studio in the hope of enhancing the density of his compositions: “The idea of getting a 'proper' producer on board to help finish the recordings wasn’t really to change my sound, but to allow me to thicken out the arrangements and add many more layers of instrumentation than I could with my basic recording setup at home. That said, I hope the music hasn't lost that 'home-studio' sound – I kept telling Eliot, the producer, that I still wanted it to sound like I recorded it in my bedroom, but this time as if I've crammed a full orchestra in there!” The Broadcast 2000 live band currently consists of the musicians Tom Andrews (glockenspiel), Chris Banner (percussion), Pedro Del Battenberg (percussion), Louise Golbey (harmony vocals), Kelly Underdown (violin), Jade Brightwell (violin) and Alex Eichenberger (cello).