Imbogodom

After contributing to last year's Aethenor album, Faking Gold and Murder, a little residual doom and gloom have clung to Alexander Tucker. Joined by New Zealand sound artist Daniel Beban, The Metallic Year is the duo's tonal journey through a landscape of detuned drones punctured by prepared piano, incongruously pretty acoustic guitar passages and captured radio signals. Tucker's albums for ATP have been a blend of folk tradition guitar bent a little off-kilter, along with real-time forays into the layering of loops. Those latter experiments are the jumping-off points for many of these pieces, which are then filled in with Beban's field recordings and electro-acoustic tweaks. A ceremonial quality is pervasive, especially in the funereal chants that waft into the mix from time to time. Hints of Steven R. Smith, Deaf Center and several Stephen O'Malley projects make Imbogodom a worthy addition to the nascent gloomcore movement.