Photo: Heather Cantrell
Back in March, Tortoise hinted at a new album with the release of ‘Oganesson‘, an exhilarating and dynamic track that set the stage for something big. Now, the wait is over and the band have finally unwrapped Touch, their first album in nine years, arriving on October 24th through International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The new album comes after a period of transformation for the quintet of Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker. With the band scattered across three cities, Touch breaks from the band’s tradition of all being in one room, but despite the physical distance, they found a surprising connection. As Parker notes:
“It’s the first record we’ve done where everything wasn’t based in Chicago,” says Parker. “Two of us are in Chicago. Two of us are here in Los Angeles and John [McEntire] is in Portland, OR. We recorded in several different places. But the strange thing is, in a way it’s kind of the most cohesive session that we’ve done.”
For a band that’s always thrived on collaborative, in-person experimentation, the distance and remote work were a gamble. “We don’t work remotely, unfortunately. We kind of all have to be in the room together”, McEntire explaines. “For me the trial-and-error stage is very important. I didn’t want to lose that.”
On the new album, Tortoise expanded their sonic palette, blending everything from “aerodynamically re-engineered Krautrock, hand-cranked techno rave-ups, and pointillist spaghetti western fanfares”, as the press release describes. Touch embraces both complexity and grand gestures, pushing the boundaries of what their sound can achieve. As Herndon notes, “It becomes writing and arranging and editing and orchestrating and sort of getting things into a sonic space that feels good, all at the same time.”
Ahead of the album release, Tortoise have dropped the lead single ‘Layered Presence’, a track that leaves us itching for Touch to drop. The single is paired with a video directed by Mikel Patrick Avery, and you can watch it below.
Tortoise will also hit the road in October and November in support of Touch, with shows in LA, NYC, London and Chicago, including a special performance with the Chicago Philharmonic, and two shows at the Barbican for the EFG London Jazz Festival. The excitement continues into 2026 with a European tour kicking off in January, where they’ll perform in Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy, and they’ll return in April for a second leg, hitting Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, and Portugal. More dates will be announced soon, so keep an eye out for your chance to see the legendary quintet live.