Paul Steel had an impressive start to his career. His debut album "April & I" was released to critical fanfare with The London Paper describing it as "the best album since Brian Wilson's Smile".

In between working at a supermarket, in a branch of Next ("I looked like a yeti and there I was selling CLOTHES to people") and a BP garage, Paul conceived what would eventually become ‘April & I', an album about a young boy inventing an imaginary friend to get through tough times.

"I know most people are scared of concept albums," Paul admits, "but mine had extremely good packaging." Recorded for two hundred quid the album was, says Paul, "not a concept album for the sake of being a concept album. I just really like the idea of something being musically cohesive. It worked out quite well."

It worked out extremely well, in fact. After selling CDs at gigs and watching fans swap tracks online, Paul picked up plaudits from XTC's Andy Partridge, High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and legendary Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks, before releasing the album as a limited edition in April 2007.

He then signed Polydor where he recorded his second album "Moon Rock" with Tony Hoffer in LA which included an amazing day at Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop recording Paul's string arrangements with an all star 30 piece orchestra. Live dates at Fuji Rock and V followed along with supports with Sean Ono Lennon, The Bee's, Electric Soft Parade, Amy Winehouse, Ed Harcourt, and Cornelius.

Then Paul broke his foot on stage supporting Air Traffic and with momentum lost, he then parted with Polydor to go it alone. With his newfound freedom and integrity intact, Paul is experiencing an Indian summer and will release the "Moon Rock" album along with an animated movie for "April & I" on July 20th.