Back in 2008, downbeat indie-folk icon Malcolm Middleton didn’t sound sure about his future. Shortly before he released his fifth album, ‘Waxing Gibbous’, he said it could be his last. He said his solo career, like his old band Arab Strap, had run out of steam and it was time to do something else. A two-year self-imposed “song strike” followed. Consequently, when he announced this UK tour a few weeks ago, no-one quite knew what to expect from it – musical pastures new or same old Malc?

Both, as it turns out. Tonight, Middleton is his own support act, showcasing material from his new project, Human Don’t Be Angry. This first set is forty minutes of bleak, sophisticated guitar loops; songs which start starkly but build into a piano-like warmth. Middleton evokes misty forests and icy lakes with simple chord changes, eventually creating a blizzard of white noise that smothers his harrowing folk harmonies like a blanket of fresh snow. When the final loop fades, he sneaks off stage, hunched under a baseball cap, only to return twenty minutes later.

Middleton’s second solo set sees him play his better-known singer-songwriter fare, albeit with the same sadness looming large. His guitar playing on ‘A Brighter Beat’ is bristly, with every finger-picked note stinging like a pinprick. Equally prickly is Middleton’s stage manner, as he turns down requests with a blunt reminder: “I’ve got a setlist, if anyone’s interested”. Despite this frostiness, the crowd praise every track with lavish applause and football terrace cheers, even daring to sing-along en masse to the typically barbed refrain of ‘Blue Plastic Bags’. Middleton seems ruffled by this intrusion, but regardless, his cold charisma reminds us why he’s so revered, and more importantly, with Human Don’t Be Angry, he drops exciting hints of where he’s going next.

Robert Cooke