Hailing from veritable hotbed of instrumental music that is Leeds in the north of England, a man of Paul Elam’s talents is never short of musical endeavors. A full time member of experimental Hood spin-off The Declining Winter and a part-time member of Glissando’s Fleeting Glimpse Ensemble, Elam has found the time for his own solo project Fieldhead, and They Shook Hands For Hours is his debut album after 2008’s Introductions EP. Elam creates electronica at the more contemplative end of the spectrum (opposed to the hands-in-the-air end), and, like all electronic music, it does not sit within just one genre, instead effortlessly moving between them at any given moment. Ambient, dubstep, experimental, drone, and minimal are all covered in an album that is an exploration of texture, melody, and emotion.

Released on Yorkshire-based Home Assembly Music (actually situated in the World Heritage site village of Saltaire, an inspirational setting that transcends into their output), They Shook Hands For Hours is steeped in subtlety. There is no instant gratification here. Instead, the listener is rewarded for this patience with an aural feast as layered textures interweave to create a feeling of loss, isolation, and redemption. Each melody and timbre takes a careful and considered approach; every sound appears at exactly the right time to have the maximum affect, showcasing Elam’s compositional craft. Whether it is through found sounds, processed loops, or instrumentation, the creation of rich melodies is what drives the album, an approach that recalls the likes of Boards of Canada and Fennesz. “Half Names” is a tapestry of resonant drones and swirls; “Of October” creates an eerie atmosphere though reverberating loops of guitar, violin, and static; while “I’m Fond Of Maps” takes a myriad of ambient drones and distorted melodies and turns them into a blissful finale.

There are some minor issues which hold back They Shook Hands For Hours, one stemming from a positive factor of the album. While it rewards patience, once all the subtle nuances have been discovered, there is very little left to engage the listener on a consistent basis. There is also a lack of variation at times, particularly during the more ambient/drone compositions, all of which could easily be part of the same elongated track. These tracks are broken up by some up-tempo beat reliant ambient numbers like “Document One” and “He’d Found the Sea,” but even still They Shook Hands for Hours does tend to merge together. This creates a solid coherence throughout, but some individual moments, and some tracks as a whole, lose their emphasis. Perhaps to combat this, there is a limited edition remix CD that comes with all physical copies of the album, containing reworkings by peers such as Machinefabriek, Library Tapes, and Jasper TX, which will undoubtedly provide an alternative take that will refresh the listener.

Despite some minor faults, Fieldhead has created a thoroughly engaging album that develops more with each listen. Like the surroundings of the record label that is Elam’s home, his music is vast, expansive, dark, and inspiring, perfect for audiophiles who need some contemplative, absorbing electronica to divulge in. The maturity in They Shook Hands For Hours causes us to forgot that it is only a debut album, but with a ounce more refinement and focus, Fieldhead will soon be surpassing it with forthcoming releases.

-James Ould