Touch

...eff Parker, John McEntire, Douglas McCombs, Dan Bitney, and John Herndon's increasingly busy schedules led to longer gaps between releases, and by the time they were ready to record Touch, their home bases stretched to Los Angeles and Portland as well as their old stomping grounds of Chicago. A full nine years may separate this album from 2016's The Catastrophist, but time and distance haven't diluted the musical chemistry between these old friends. The logistics of recording in three cities hasn't dulled the impact of their playing, either; on the gleaming motorik of "Axial Seamount," they balance clockwork precision with the spontaneity of a jam session. Frequently, the band's interplay is so effortlessly connected that the intricacies of the shifting tempos and harmonic variations on songs such as "Works and Days" only reveal themselves fully after several listens. Though Tortoise's music remains as complex as ever, Touch is often notably more compact: The explosive highlight "Rated OG" clocks in at just under two minutes. Here and on several of the album's other standout tracks, like "Oganesson"'s loping, metallic funk, Tortoise still get remarkable mileage out of their signature juxtaposition of knotty rhythms and chiming clarity. They continue to find new angles on this contrast, tearing "Layered Presence"'s delicate synth arpeggios in two with a serrated guitar solo and transforming "Vexations"' doomy surf-rock into slippery experimental electronics. Even without guest appearances like those on The Catastrophist, Tortoise still broaden their musical boundaries as they span "Elka"'s brisk monochrome techno pulse to the lush romance of "Promenade à Deux"'s marimbas and strings. "Night Gang," which unites the album's sounds into a seductive, hypnotic hybrid of '60s pop and symphonic jazz, may be the record's most adventurous moment, but all of Touch reflects the curiosity that has driven Tortoise since the beginning -- and still drives them all these years later. ~ Heather Phares