Home Assembly Music is a new independent label operating out of Saltaire in West Yorkshire. The label’s latest release comes from Leeds resident, Paul Elam, who records his solo works as Fieldhead. Paul is a full-time member of The Declining Winter and recently contributed a remix to the bonus CD of 'Haunt The Upper Hallways' (HAM002). His remix of 'Cull' is also featured on Northerner's CD 'The Ridings' (HAM001).
‘They Shook Hands For Hours’ is his debut release 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.
A limited number of copies will be issued with an accompanying CD of remixes from the likes of Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, Seaworthy, The Declining Winter, Northerner, Library Tapes, Pausal, Glissando, James Yates, Yuri Lugovskoy and Matthew Collings.
July 2009 saw the release from Hood co-founder, Richard Adams in his guise as The Declining Winter (July 2009). This is a three track 7” single entitled ‘Haunt The Upper Hallways’ which comes with a bonus ten track CD (effectively an album) all housed in a luxurious full colour picture sleeve (CD also housed in full colour card wallet). In addition to all this the first 100 website customers will also receive an additional CD of remxes of ‘Haunt The Upper Hallways’ from Part Timer, Fieldhead, James Yates, Library Tapes, Winter North Atlantic, Northerner, Strategy and even one from Richard Adams himself.
Also available is the label’s intial release, Northerner ‘The Ridings’ (Feb 2009). A double digipak CD featuring an extra disc of remixes from the likes of Bracken, Epic 45, aus, Glen Shipley, Part Timer, The Declining Winter, Gareth S Brown, Portal, Winter North Atlantic, Fieldhead and Yuri Lugovskoy. It has attracted much critical praise including Record Of The Week accolades from Norman Records in Leeds and Piccadilly Records in Manchester.
Further releases are planned for the current year so please check the Home Assembly Music website for details.
