Tortoise Touch

Nine years after 2016’s The Catastrophist, Tortoise’s eighth album captures the legendary post-rock outfit operating in literally unfamiliar territory: Touch is the first record the quintet—whose members were once resolutely Chicago-based but are now spread across the US—has conceived in multiple settings, its 10 songs resulting from sessions in Los Angeles and Portland as well as their hometown. Despite the new approach, Touch showcases the near-mystical interplay and ingenuity that Tortoise has built a reputation on across the last three decades. There’s also a few surprises in tow—the pounding techno of “Elka” and the micro-odyssey of closing track “Night Gang,” which sounds like a lost Beach Boys instrumental from their post-Pet Sounds days—alongside moments of blissed-out, vibraphone-laden jazz harmonics that wouldn’t be a hair out of place on their seminal 1998 album TNT, driving home the timelessness of Tortoise’s approach, which still feels fresh to this very day.