Who can forget the great indie huff Alexander Tucker caused when he stepped on stage with Stephen O’Malley as part of the Maximum Black “festival”; such great umbrage was taken at their unmelodic riffing. Tucker sawed at his cello with maniacal glee, O’Malley threw metal shadows over the walls, and loads of people went boooooooooooo what time is Final Fantasy on? I loved it, obviously. Surprisingly, I’m also loving this, his new album on the festival that is also a label and an authority to proceed, ATP. Proceed.

Maybe those pesky fickle kids would have enjoyed this a bit more. On Portal, Tucker takes his folk roots and plants them deep into psychedelic mulch, with layers of electric guitar, strings, electronics and sheer otherness guaranteeing a bumper crop, nay, a wood, a forest, a jungle even. “Poltergeists Grazing” starts the album at a gentle amble, before becoming entangled in already-entwined vocal and guitar line – but look behind this and there is a deep forest of strange sounds. Also featuring on the recent Custom Made EP, “Veins To The Sky” is as melodic as it comes, underpinned by a nagging string part and building to a big organ climax (oh dear god what have I just said? Try and put that out of your mind. Try harder. Even harder. Think about the US presidential elections for a bit, that’ll do it). The drone piece “Energy for Dead Plants” is very much the clearing at the centre of the forest, with sunlight flickering through the treetop canyon. Boss of everything, however is the suitably-named “Omnibaron”, a dark and fuzzy beast with crawls forth from a canyon of static before loping around amongst the strings in heavy-footed circles.

Last track “Here” is the album in microcosm: a light fingerpicked intro and splash of vibes which gets gradually darker with the entrance of a scraped cello, incantatory vocals, and then some doom guitar, descending in spirals to pitch black depths. It doesn’t sound quite like anything else I’ve heard this year, which is probably why I’ve been playing it so much. Proceed with purpose towards this Portal; it opens in early June over at ATP. (worth it for the cover alone, surely?)