Fieldhead – They Shook Hands For Hours

‘They Shook Hands For Hours’ is the debut release from Paul Elam and takes the minimalist, glitchy, low end rumble of Machinefabriek, Phillip Jeck and The Caretaker but contains arrangements that are concise, structured and almost pop orientated in their brevity.

The dusty, grainy textures can be reminiscent of Khonnor’s textbook 2005 album ‘Handwriting’, but in this case the ambient cinematic drones of Stars of the Lid and Labradford replace the ghosts of lo-fi pop. It is no wonder that the artist divulges his number one influence as tape hiss, but in no way should it be taken that this is a minimalist or avant-garde work.

The melodicisms are notable from the opening ‘This Train Is A Rainbow’ with its Labradford style guitar twangs through to the echoes of Aphex Twin’s dusty loops on ‘I’m Fond Of Maps’. The warmth of ‘real’ instruments is always audible, particularly violins which swoop and soar in the wide open landscapes of ‘He’d Found The Sea’, recalling Manchester acoustic-electro favourites The Boats.