Chicago’s long-running instrumental collective Tortoise have returned with Touch, their first new studio album since 2016, released today on International Anthem and Nonesuch Records across streaming platforms, following last month’s vinyl, CD and digital download releases. The record finds the five-piece reconnecting after years spent in different cities, and pushing the band’s wide-ranging sound into bigger, sometimes orchestral territory.
Recorded in Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago, Touch brings together Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker, and is the product of a deliberately collective songwriting approach where ideas win out over ego. That egalitarian spirit has defined the band since their Chicago beginnings in 1990, when members with roots in local underground scenes combined krautrock, dub, minimalist composition, electronica and jazz into a new instrumental language.
On Touch Tortoise embrace grander gestures and unexpected turns. The album moves from aerodynamically refined Krautrock pulses, to hand-cranked techno bursts, to pointillist desert-guitar panoramas, all underpinned by the band’s signature internal logic. With members now dispersed – two in Los Angeles, one in Portland, and two remaining in Chicago – the record documents a band that has adapted its creative process to geography, yet still sounds unmistakably like Tortoise.
To mark the release, the band have shared an animated video for the focus track, Rated OG, animated by Selina Trepp. Tonight the group perform with the Chicago Philharmonic at The Auditorium in Chicago, presenting new and older material arranged for orchestra by Sean O’Hagan, Nate Walcott, Paul Von Mertens and Jeff Parker. The collaboration is a fitting extension of the album’s expanded palette, testing how the band’s layered instrumental pieces translate to a thirty-piece orchestral context.
Tortoise’s history is woven through the material. Formed from the late 1980s/early 1990s Chicago scene, the band’s early records – including Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT – helped lay the foundations of the post-rock movement by swapping rock shorthand for textural exploration and rhythmic invention. Over the decades Tortoise members have maintained a web of side projects and collaborations, and have repeatedly reinvented their approach while keeping improvisation and studio experimentation at their core.
Touch builds on that legacy while opening new pathways. The album’s sequencing invites sustained listening, with small details and field recordings rewarding patient ears. Where earlier Tortoise records often grew from the chemistry of living and working in a shared loft, Touch is the sound of experienced players reconnecting across distance, and deliberately stretching their instrumental vocabulary.
A run of special live dates accompanies the release, including the Auditorium show with the Chicago Philharmonic, a three-night weekend stand at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, two Barbican appearances for the EFG London Jazz Festival, and a broader tour that extends into 2026 across Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. The Australian leg sees the band play Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane next May.
TRACKLIST
Vexations
Layered Presence
Works and Days
Elka
Promenade à Deux
Axial Seamount
A Title Comes
Rated OG
Oganesson
Night Gang
CREDITS
All Music Written And Performed By Tortoise
Tortoise Is
Dan Bitney
John Herndon
Douglas McCombs
John McEntire
Jeff Parker
Viola On “Promenade À Deux” – Marta Sofia Honer
Cello On “Promenade À Deux” – Skip VonKuske
Field Recordings On “Works And Days” – Tucker Martine
Recorded At
Flora Recording And Playback, Portland OR
64 Sound, Los Angeles CA
Electrical Audio, Chicago IL
Mixed At Soma Electronic Music Studios, Gladstone OR
Recorded And Mixed By John McEntire
Mastered By Dave Cooley
At Elysian Masters, Los Angeles CA
TOUR DATES
Chicago IL, Tuesday November 11th, The Auditorium with Chicago Philharmonic
Lexington KY, Wednesday November 12th, Singleton Center for the Arts
New York NY, Friday November 14th, Bowery Ballroom, SOLD OUT
New York NY, Saturday November 15th, Bowery Ballroom, SOLD OUT
New York NY, Sunday November 16th, Bowery Ballroom
London UK, Saturday November 22nd, Barbican, 1st Show SOLD OUT, Matinee Show Added
Bristol UK, Sunday November 23rd, The Prospect Building
Leeds UK, Monday November 24th, The Irish Centre
Helsinki FI, Tuesday January 20th, Tavastia
Stockholm SE, Wednesday January 21st, Fasching
Karlsruhe DE, Thursday January 22nd, Tollhaus
Lille FR, Friday January 23rd, Aeronef
Brussels BE, Saturday January 24th, Brussels Jazz Festival
Perugia IT, Sunday January 25th, Teatro del Pavone, SOLD OUT
Frankfurt DE, Monday January 26th, Zoom
Köln DE, Tuesday January 27th, Kantine
Paris FR, Wednesday January 28th, Le Trabendo
Berlin DE, Thursday January 29th, Großer Sendesaal des RBB
Dresden DE, Friday January 30th, Beatpol
San Francisco CA, Friday February 27th, Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA, Saturday February 28th, Great American Music Hall
Portland OR, Tuesday March 3rd, The Aladdin Theater
Portland OR, Wednesday March 4th, The Aladdin Theater
Seattle WA, Thursday March 5th, Neptune Theater
Vancouver BC, Friday March 6th, The Pearl
Hamburg DE, Thursday April 9th, Kampnagel
Den Haag NL, Friday April 10th, Rewire Festival
Brugge BE, Saturday April 11th, Cactus Club
München DE, Sunday April 12th, Technikum
Salzburg AT, Monday April 13th, jazz:it
Graz AT, Tuesday April 14th, Orpheum
St. Gallen CH, Wednesday April 15th, Palace
Fribourg CH, Thursday April 16th, Fri-Son
Braga PT, Sunday April 19th, Theatro Circo
Lisboa PT, Monday April 20th, Culturgest
Sydney AU, Wednesday May 27th, Oxford Art Factory
Adelaide AU, Friday May 29th, Lion Arts Factory
Melbourne AU, Saturday May 30th, The Corner Hotel
Brisbane AU, Sunday May 31st, Crowbar
Osaka JP, Tuesday June 2nd, Club Quattro
Nagoya JP, Wednesday June 3rd, Club Quattro
Tokyo JP, Thursday June 4th, Zepp Shinjuku
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