Listen: Tortoise Return with “Oganesson,” First New Song in Nine Years
Photo Credit: Todd Weaver
After nearly a decade apart, Tortoise are back with “Oganesson.” The pioneering post-rock ensemble’s first new recording since 2016’s The Catastrophist lands from out of the blue just hours before their booking at Knoxville, Tenn.’s Big Ears Festival. The surprise single is billed as the first taste of a “larger body of work” releasing via International Anthem and Nonesuch Records sometime soon.
“Organesson” renews the same magnetic, many-sided sound that made Tortoise such a revelation in Chicago’s ‘90s indie scene. Since then, the quintet has become a sort of reverse supergroup, as each of its members have branched out to pursue their own impressive solo careers–see guitarist Jeff Parker’s jazz bona fides and drummer John McEntire’s work with the Sea and Cake for just a slice of their influence. The band’s return holds true to their archetypal style with a dense, looping arrangement of filtered percussion and inviting strums, as ever an implacable alloy of atmospheric jazz, krautrock, dub and other odd ends.
Tortoise have not yet shared a release date for their seventh full-length album. Stay tuned for updates from the group at trts.com.
