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"Portal", the third Alexander Tucker long player for ATP recordings is a work of bewitching splendour. Tucker's previous albums ("Old Fog" and "Furrowed Brow") seem like stepping stones in the wake of "Portal". If we must draw comparisons then lets say Chicago musician/composer Jim O'Rourke; both are unparalleled in their pairing of the 20th Century avant-garde techniques of composers like Stockhausen and Steve Reich with the archaic sounding free-folk of John Fahey, Robbie Basho and Loren Connors. On "Portal" Tucker's finger-picked guitar lines become indistinguishable from the more traditional string arrangements and voice. These melodic clusters interweave like the paths incurved by a figure skater. This is still to say nothing of Tucker's voice, which sounds as if it is emanating from a ghost channel on an ancient mixing desk rather than appear sung on top of the epochal arrangements. It's a voice comparable perhaps to "Meddle" era David Gilmour or John Martyn on "Solid Air".