TORTOISE announce TOUCH /// new album out October 24
(photo by Heather Cantrell)
Tortoise Announce New Album Touch
Out October 24 on LP / CD / Digital Download
(Out November 11 on All Streaming Platforms)
Series of Special Shows This Fall, Including Landmarkchicago Date With the Chicago Philharmonic,plus Eu Tour Dates in 2026
Today, Tortoise announce Touch, the first new album from the groundbreaking group since 2016. This new record from the post-everything icons comes via International Anthem and Nonesuch Records on LP, CD, and digital download on October 24, 2025, and on streaming services on November 11, 2025. Lead single "Layered Presence" — which also comes via video filmed and directed by Mikel Patrick Avery — is out on all DSPs now.
Watch the video,
listen to “Layered Presence”
and preorder Touch here.
(Touch cover art)
With Touch, the Tortoise bandmembers — Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker — harness their collectivist songwriting approach, a slightly anarchistic but resolutely egalitarian process where ideas triumph over ego towards an abstracted muscularity. While there are still excursions into the dusky, elegantly gnarled jazz ambience that flourished on landmark works like Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT, Touch is perhaps most remarkable for Tortoise's unapologetic embrace of grand gesture. Aerodynamically re-engineered Krautrock, hand-cranked techno rave-ups, and pointillist spaghetti western fanfares are all imbued with Tortoise's now-signature internal logic — equally alluring and confounding, a puzzle to be savored rather than solved.
The stylistic diversity is also a reflection of the band's current operating circumstances: With two members now in Los Angeles, another in Portland, and just two remaining in the band's Chicago hometown, their creative process has shifted dramatically from when they lived together in a loft space in the late 1990s, honing their sound over endless hours of collective experimentation.
Recorded between the three cities — Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago — Touch is the result of an intentional effort by these five musicians to reconnect, recenter, and reinvigorate their sound for what is perhaps the group’s most diverse release to date.
"Layered Presence" is out now, listen to it here.
Preorder Touch here.
Touch is the culmination of a long-gestating reunion, the results of which Tortoise first shared this past March, when they released "Oganesson" — "an off-kilter, 7/4 funk tune with a spy-movie ambience" (New York Times) that is included on the new album — ahead of a career-spanning opening night performance at the boundary-crossing music festival Big Ears. They followed that with the Oganesson Remixes EP, which featured reworks of the track from poet and activist Saul Williams, prolific mastering engineer Heba Kadry, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, indie music icons Broken Social Scene, and International Anthem labelmate Makaya McCraven.
A series of special shows is planned through the end of the year, including The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, a three-night weekend stand at NYC's Bowery Ballroom, two shows at the Barbican for EFG London Jazz Festival, and a landmark show at The Auditorium in Chicago, where Tortoise will play with the Chicago Philharmonic for the first time. The band will then embark on European tours in early 2026, with more dates to be announced soon.
Los Angeles CA - Saturday October 18th - The Broad - tickets
Austin TX - Thursday October 23rd - Radio/East - tickets
Marfa TX - Saturday October 25th - Flying Island - tickets
Chicago IL - Tuesday November 11th - The Auditorium w/ Chicago Philharmonic - tickets
Lexington KY - Wednesday November 12th - Singleton Center for the Arts - tickets
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 - tickets
London UK - Saturday November 22nd - Barbican - 1st show SOLD OUT, matinee show added
Bristol UK - Sunday November 23rd - The Prospect Building - tickets
Leeds UK - Monday November 24th - The Irish Centre - tickets
Helsinki FI - Tuesday January 20th - Tavastia - tickets
Stockholm SE - Wednesday January 21st - Fasching - tickets
Karlsruhe DE - Thursday January 22nd - Tollhaus - tickets
Lille FR - Friday January 23rd - Aeronef - tickets
Brussels BE - Saturday January 24th - Brussels Jazz Festival - tickets
Perugia IT - Sunday January 25th - Teatro del Pavone - tickets
Frankfurt DE - Monday January 26th - Zoom - tickets
Köln DE - Tuesday January 27th - Kantine - tickets
Paris FR - Wednesday January 28th - Le Trabendo - tickets
Berlin DE - Thursday January 29th - Großer Sendesaal des RBB - tickets
Dresden DE - Friday January 30th - Beatpol - tickets
Hamburg DE - Thursday April 9th - Kampnagel - tickets
Den Haag NL - Friday April 10th - Rewire Festival - tickets
Brugge BE - Saturday April 11th - Cactus Club - tickets
München DE - Sunday April 12th - Technikum - tickets
Salzburg AT - Monday April 13th - jazz:it - tickets
Graz AT - Tuesday April 14th - Orpheum - tickets
St. Gallen CH - Wednesday April 15th - Palace - tickets
Fribourg CH - Thursday April 16th - Fri-Son - tickets
Braga PT - Sunday April 19th - Theatro Circo
Lisboa PT - Monday April 20th - Culturgest
(photo by Yusuke Nagata)
…about Tortoise…
Tortoise is widely considered one of the most influential music groups of the last 40 years, with a wide-reaching impact on the contemporary music scene. Pitchfork says: “Imagine a graphic showing all the bands the five members of Tortoise were in before they came together and then all the bands they went on to play with after. At the top of the funnel you have groups ranging from dreamy psych-rock to earthy post-punk crunch, including Eleventh Dream Day, Bastro, Slint, and the Poster Children; on the 'post-Tortoise' end are groups focusing on electro-jazz and twangy instrumental rock like Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, and Brokeback. In this graphic, Tortoise is the choke point, the one project that has elements of all these sounds but is never defined by nor committed to any of them. Instead, Tortoise floats free, a planchette moving over a Ouija board guided by 10 sets of fingers, where everyone watches the arrow float in one direction but no one is quite sure how it gets there or who is doing the pushing.”
The band, which originally formed in Chicago in 1990, comprises Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker.
Initially hailed as pace-setters of an emergent, cinematic instrumental evolution of alternative rock, the Chicago Tribune called Tortoise’s sound “mood music that refuses to be shoved into the background, as inviting as it is challenging.” Releasing just seven albums since 1990 — including classics like 1996’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1998’s TNT, and 2001’s Standards —Tortoise has steadily and intuitively evolved across its life, creating genreless music that is as timeless as it is ahead of the curve.
The band’s legacy goes beyond its recorded output, as well. Per the New York Times: “While Tortoise's albums have experimented with the editing and overdubbing possibilities of the studio, the band thrives performing in real time.” Rolling Stone deems Tortoise “a live marvel,” while Pitchfork further says the band’s performances reveal that “at heart, they’re a supremely fun band, wide open to all sorts of sonic possibilities.”
DELUXE VINYL PACKAGE
Touch comes on a 140 gram vinyl LP, inside a heavyweight reverse-board jacket with IARC obi strip and poly-lined printed inner-sleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST. North American stock pressed at New Orleans Record Press, all other international stock pressed at Pallas in Germany.
Limited Edition *Axial Seamount* Color Vinyl - $30
Classic Black Vinyl - $27
also available on
Compact Disc - $15
!!! FALL '25 BUNDLE IS HERE !!!
Tortoise's Touch is one of three new physical releases we'll be announcing for the upcoming fall season. And per usual, we're offering a limited quantity of bundles that gather them all, available for purchase now via our Bandcamp page.
The Fall ‘25 Bundle collects a full season of new releases and ships them as a single parcel. Purchase gets you a bundle-exclusive discount of 10% off the LP prices as well as a discounted shipping cost.
Included in the Fall '25 Bundle:
IARC0103 (Makaya McCraven - Off the Record 2xLP)
IARC0099 (Tortoise - Touch)
IARC0105 (TBA soon)
Bundles will ship from our warehouses in the US, EU, and UK, but don’t wait too long, the quantity available in each warehouse is limited! Early purchase is recommended to ensure the lowest possible shipping, tax, and VAT costs. All items will ship together in one package around October 22nd. Bandcamp downloads will be sent via email for all the releases by, or before, the ship date.
ORDER THE FALL '25 BUNDLE on
limited edition color vinyl here
ORDER THE FALL '25 BUNDLE on
classic black vinyl here
