Tortoise: Touch

"Logistics made it the first long-distance Tortoise album, one not centered on folks making music together in a room. There are moments you sense that detached process, an airlessness that flattens some details. It rarely lasts long: One instrument or another will make a grand gesture, or get punched up in the mix Lee Perry-style, pushed through a filter and/or into the red."

"From there, beginning with "A Title Comes," the LP's second half finds perfect balance between signal noise and cinematic sweep, with signature vibraphone pulses and swooning guitar progressions rubbing against blissed-out Terry Riley organ tones and motorik chug. The interstitial "Rated OG," which might easily run double its length without losing steam, hurtles into a splatter groove, tag-teaming "Oganesson," which maintains the propulsion, locking focus with a spidery bass line that ends with another plunge into gritty discord."

Creation was difficult, lengthy, and sometimes frustrating; logistics made it the first long-distance Tortoise album, not centered on musicians playing together in one room. The recording process introduced distortion, static, and other distressed sounds that lend an abrasive, airless quality at times. Those moments are often interrupted by grand instrumental gestures or aggressive mix treatments—Lee Perry-style filtering and saturation—that inject destructive energy and instability. The second half balances signal noise and cinematic sweep with vibraphone pulses, swooning guitars, Terry Riley-style organ tones, and motorik rhythms. Tracks like "Rated OG" and "Oganesson" propel with splatter grooves and spidery bass, while "Night Gang" concludes with anthemic synths and surf guitar.

Read at Pitchfork