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Nov 12, 2025 Web Exclusive By Callum McLean

Are we there yet? After nine years, Tortoise’s eighth studio album finally pulls up—and reminds us this is a band in no hurry.

Over four decades, the Chicago five-piece have become legendary for an instrumental sound that meanders. Across genres, sure (jazz and Krautrock, especially). Within song structure, definitely (forget hooks and choruses; it’s about vibes and vibraphones). But also in terms of pace and atmosphere: their most memorable tracks can feel portentous, explosive, even exultant—but they are always taut, restrained. So too for Touch, an album that’s exceptional even at its most incidental. This is a mild ride through wild country—through unexpected byroads and cinematic landscapes alike.

Two singles are among the most deceivingly unobtrusive tracks on the record, with names to match. “Layered Presence” accumulates and sheds riffs with little momentum, shuffling inertly to a purgatory plod. “Works and Days” recalls the offbeat commercial music of Haruomi Hosono or Yasuaki Shimizu—before its homely trot descends into a stabbing dirge.

Elsewhere, Touch’s most upbeat tracks tread genuinely new ground. The band dive digital on “Elka,” a track mostly dominated by a 4/4 techno pulse, though “Axial Seamount” finds a neater fit: its motorik beat is an electrifying anchor for rollicking guitars and washes of harpsichord. This stronger second half is definitive Tortoise, with a fresh lick of paint.

Bookending the album are its widest vistas: opener “Vexations” and closer “Night Gang” both go full spaghetti western. The latter is a highlight, sprawling luxuriously around an anthemic guitar-and-synth line. And yet, right when that panoramic groove has settled in, it’s all over. After just five joyous minutes, most fans will be left wanting five more—especially when it might be as many years until a follow-up. (Touch is also by far the band’s shortest record at under 40 minutes.) We’re left bewildered, occasionally underwhelmed, and yet somehow still thrilled. Well, nothing to do but take it for another spin. (www.trts.com)

Author rating: 7/10