In a hip-hop scene as close-knit as the Twin Cities’, it’s hard for your album to go unnoticed — especially if you’re of Doomtree ilk. In just a few short years, the nine-man rap collective has jumpstarted myriad solo careers and even established their own annual winter “Blowout” at First Avenue. So when John Samels, aka Paper Tiger, one of the group’s key producers, announced his full-length debut, it was met with fevered anticipation from the Doomtree faithful.

With the exception of a handful of tracks that feature Lookbook’s Maggie Morrison and Doomtree’s Dessa, “Made Like Us” is mostly instrumental. It’s a murky 40 minutes that boasts jazzy keys, walloping snares and ’80s club homage that never lulls or becomes redundant.

“When I was working on other records and making a lot of rap-specific stuff, there’s sort of a formula that goes on and you know it’s a little bit more of a verse-chorus-verse-chorus … so it was kind of a nice way to change the process,” Paper Tiger said.

“Made Like Us” is moody from the get-go, with the first half packed with crisp drum samples and sullen synths. The highlight comes early with “The Bully Plank,” a soulful and somber piano-driven instrumental fused with an intermittent vocal sample that recalls some of the darker moments of DJ Shadow’s now-legendary debut, “Endtroducing .” But like Shadow and other deft digital maestros, Paper Tiger’s songs handily avoid repetition by continually shifting the layers of sound.

But the album’s success doesn’t stop with its instrumental arrangements. In the darkly atmospheric “The Painter’s Arm,” Morrison’s meaty vocals soar as a snare pops and patters in the distance.

“I’ve been a fan of Maggie and Lookbook and stuff she’s been doing for years,” Paper Tiger said. “It sounded like the right fit, too; it sounded like something she’d be into.”

In two subsequent tracks that are sure to receive plenty of airplay — “Palace” and “And the Camera” — Dessa’s poetic musings offer something that flows in the same vein of the duo’s previous work.

“[Paper Tiger] has been moving in a direction that has a lot more depth … so it’s fun to be reintroduced to him as a solo artist,” Dessa said. “I think it’s the best work he’s done yet.”

Since it’s devoid of the abrasive lyricism and the hard-hitting boom-bap of crowd favorites like “Game Over” and “Low Light Low Life” that fueled previous Doomtree-related releases, it’s difficult to determine how Paper Tiger’s full-length will be received by Doomtree diehards. Nonetheless, it’s 11 tracks of beautifully haunting soundscapes that shows how Paper Tiger’s electronic arsenal can hold its own ground and further proving that hip-hop doesn’t always require lyrics to be engaging.

3.5/4 Stars