Simplicity Two Thousand

Simplicity Two Thousand
The original Simplicity cover
Studio album by Afterlife
Released	September 11, 2000
Recorded	1996–1999, 2000 (Remixes)
Studio	Steven Miller's home studio, Cheshire, England[1]
Genre	Downtempo, Balearic beat
Length	68:48 (Disc 1) 61:55 (Disc 2)
Label	Hed Kandi (HEDK013[1])
Producer	Steven Miller[1]
Afterlife chronology
Simplicity (1999) Simplicity Two Thousand (2000) Speck of Gold (2004)

Simplicity is an album by electronic music producer Steven Miller aka Afterlife, released in 1999. It is more commonly known under the title of its 2000 two-disc reissue Simplicity Two Thousand, which added remixes and bonus tracks.^[2][3] 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 it was quickly withdrawn to be repacked and re-marketed to a wider audience."^[3]

The album is said to capture the "hidden alter ego" of the island Ibiza. Miller, UK 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]

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.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

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]