Behind the name Broadcast 2000 is the multi-instrumentalist Joe Steer, born in Devon, England. On his debut album Building Blocks, he plays cello, double bass, guitar, ukulele, glockenspiel, banjo, percussion and sings. Steer wrote, recorded and mixed all of the songs on Building Blocks in his North London apartment and they are a wonderfully warm-hearted collection of tiny pop gems in the tradition of the very young Paul Simon.

If you haven't heard this yet, it's something really worth investigating.

Steve Lamacq – BBC 6Music

Be it the refreshing optimism of Don't Weigh Me Down, the quirky rhythm of Get Up And Go or the light-footed Viennese waltz of the opener Run – each of the songs has the potential to be a catchy tune.

Steer, 26, has been writing songs since his teens, initially recording on an old Tascam four-track recorder and playing in many different bands. It was only last year, when his co-songwriter and former Artisan bandmate Lee Schofield decided to escape foggy London and emigrate to Africa, that Steer came to the realization, "it might be worth putting my own record together. I've always enjoyed experimenting with recording just for my own kicks."

The songs are carried on the one hand by Steer's charming tenor, who has been compared to Chris Martin and Sufjan Stevens, "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", and on the other hand by the attention to detail in the arrangements. It may be helpful here that Steer had a classical music education: "I did things like composing for demodulated traffic noise, to be performed using multi-speaker 'diffusion' around a concert hall. While also playing in the university orchestra and doing all the classical music theory stuff."

Broadcast 2000 is something very promising from out of the UK

Chris Doridas – KCRW

The fact that Steer comes from the country probably also had some influence on his musical development: “Growing up 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/shopping center to hang around in. In fact the majority of my school buddies were in bands.”

At live concerts, Steer is supported by Tom and Chris from Lady and the Lost Boys, but he employs these two "mainly for their haircuts actually. They are very young, 18/19 and I feel like their weird old uncle."

This spring, Building Blocks will be released on Groenland Records and the whole family is looking forward to hearing more from their funny old uncle.