Broadcast

Psychedelic indie-pop outfit Broadcast were one of rock’s most innovative outfits in the ’90s and 2000s, producing spectral, cinematic music that drew on the solemnity of twee, the ambition of movie scores and the adventurous spirit of electronic music. Founding vocalist Trish Keenan and bassist James Cargill began collaborating in 1995 after meeting at Birmingham’s Sensateria club and released the first Broadcast single a year later, introducing their dreamy sound and inventive use of film samples and library music. Their subsequent singles and debut EP, The Book Lovers, were collected on 1997’s Work and Non Work. In 2000, Broadcast, with Keenan and Cargill supplemented by other musicians, released The Noise Made By People, a self-produced collection of moody songs led by Keenan’s hovering alto. In 2003, they released Haha Sound, which became their breakthrough in the U.S.; two years later, they followed with Tender Buttons; and in 2009 they released the collaborative mini-album Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age. Keenan died in early 2011 at 42 after contracting pneumonia. Since her death, a number of rare, out-of-print Broadcast recordings have surfaced, while Cargill went on to form Children Of Alice with Broadcast collaborators Roj Stevens and Julian House.