[10] This prism-like perspective of influence and instrumentation is notable in Elms' debut album Islandia,[11] particularly the work Bethia, composed for Hull City of Culture 2017,[12] in which he uses an abstraction of traditional sea shanties, sung by a male choir, which is offset by the contrapuntal chimes of a carillon and a piano, the ambience of sustained chords played by a synthesiser, and, in the latter half of the work, a strident — sometimes dissonant — trumpet.
[16][17][18] In Elms' music there is a focus on timbre and the time "in between notes";[19] he sacrifices melody and accompaniment in favour of texture and impressionism, which, with the assistance of found sounds — in a manner similar to musique concrète — is often evocative of environments or landscapes.
[32] In 2015 Elms was commissioned by the British Film Institute to create Bethia for Hull City of Culture 2017 as part of PRS Foundation's New Music Biennial.
[41] Elms recorded, produced and mixed the "distressingly brutal"[42] debut album What is Imposed Must be Endured by doom metal band Blind Monarch.
[43][44] Elms wrote additional music for the 2017 TV series Taboo[45][46] by Ridley Scott and Thomas Hardy; the show and its lead composer, Max Richter, were nominated for an Emmy Award for Original Dramatic Score in 2017.