Simplicity is an album by British electronic music producer Steven Miller, known professionally as Afterlife. It was first issued in September 1999, but was quickly withdrawn and re-released on 11 September 2000 as the expanded two-disc set Simplicity Two Thousand, which added remixes and bonus tracks.[2][3]
The album is said to capture the "hidden alter ego" of the island Ibiza. Miller, a British downtempo producer, who was in this period best known for his appearances on the previous years' Café del Mar compilations,[2][4] said he was "deeply affected" by the island's people and scenery when he visited and made the album as a reflection of his time there. The album includes influences of trip hop, flamenco, and lullaby.[1] Travel writer Iain Stewart called the album "Balearic music of real substance" and highlighted Rachel Lloyd's "mellifluous" vocal contributions.[5]
Production
According to Miller, Lloyd created and recorded the vocals for the track "Breather" as improvised single-take singing. She recorded additional vocals over several recording sessions, as a "stream of vocal consciousness": without listening to the instrumental track before doing her takes. He further states that, for the 2000 rerelease, this track was reworked into a Bossa nova-style remix, with the addition of guitar and other live instruments—at the suggestion of an NRK employee, who then handled the additional studio work, and engineered the mix.[6] "Breather 2000" was subsequently included on Café del Mar Volume 7.
Release
According to the label Hed Kandi: "Simplicity was originally released in Sept 1999 but ... it was quickly withdrawn to be repacked and re-marketed to a wider audience."[3]
A reviewer for The Press praised vocalist Rachel Lloyd's performance, and gave the album four and a half stars. He wrote: "Not many acts who appear on [Café del Mar compilations] are capable of keeping it up over a whole album, let alone two, as in this case, but Lloyd and her cohorts manage it and with original material, too.[7] In the book The Mojo Collection, the album was called a "gorgeous feat of melancholy" with all twelve songs flowing "seamlessly into a beautifully executed narrative".[1]
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