(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "LAYERED PRESENCE")
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The experimental rock group Tortoise got their start in the early '90s. The musicians were all living together in an old warehouse loft in Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "LAYERED PRESENCE")
RASCOE: They blend jazz, rock and electronic sounds, torchbearers of instrumental post-rock. Now Tortoise is out with their first release in nearly a decade. It's called "Touch."
(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "LAYERED PRESENCE")
RASCOE: Joining us now is guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer John McEntire. Thank you for being with us.
JOHN MCENTIRE: Thanks for having us.
JEFF PARKER: Yeah, thank you so much.
RASCOE: John, you all made fans wait a long time - almost a decade. What was the catalyst for everyone to get back together for "Touch"?
MCENTIRE: Well, I mean, I - it was always on the back burner that we were going to do more work. We had a long touring cycle after our previous record. We were out almost two years in total. And eventually, the pandemic happened. And we finally, in 2021, got in a room together and decided we were going to do this.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: Members of the band have kind of dispersed a bit. You're not all in Chicago now. Does that change how you make music together?
PARKER: Yes. Now we pretty much demo our music separately, individually. And then when we come together, the separate demos kind of serve as templates for what direction the music is going to take and what shape it's going to take.
(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "WORKS AND DAYS")
RASCOE: Publicity calls this album a puzzle to be savored rather than solved. But what does that mean?
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: What does it mean for us, you know, normies who are like, you know, I'm just listening to the music?
MCENTIRE: Well, it's very experiential. I did read a little review snippet that talked about listening to it with your eyes closed, which I think is a great idea because the whole thing is a journey, right? And we are always extremely conscientious about how we sequence our albums, and they definitely have a narrative arc to them. At least I think so. That's the goal, at least.
RASCOE: Well, let's talk for a moment about the track "Oganesson."
(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "OGANESSON")
RASCOE: You released six remixes of the track by other musicians, including Patrick Carney of Black Keys and hip-hop artist Saul Williams. His version sounds pretty different.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OGANESSON (SAUL WILLIAMS REMIX)")
SAUL WILLIAMS: What was I to make of the growing conviction that we would all somehow be reborn of the fears we had withstood in our lifetimes? That small acts of courage would cancel each other out.
RASCOE: Your music is instrumental. So what's it like to have someone put words to it?
PARKER: I mean, I think it adds another dimension to it, for sure. You know, when we were choosing artists to collaborate with for the remixes, Saul's name came up. He's a poet and an activist.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OGANESSON (SAUL WILLIAMS REMIX)")
WILLIAMS: Reborn as an afterthought in an occupied nation, taught to hold my camera steady, and they killed me. Behold, your man of faith has faith in my demise, though I'm born angel.
PARKER: I mean, I was excited to see what he came up with and really stoked when we finally were able to hear it 'cause he's such a powerful artist.
MCENTIRE: Our whole thing from the jump was that this whole project was open forum. We could essentially do whatever we wanted with the material and let other people do what they wanted with it, too. And there is no sort of sense of things being fixed, if you will.
RASCOE: And, Jeff, Tortoise is gearing up for a tour in the U.S. and Europe, but it all kicks off with a show in the band's hometown with a live orchestra - the Chicago Philharmonic. How are you preparing for that performance?
PARKER: I'm actually currently working on an orchestration as we speak for "A Title Comes."
(SOUNDBITE OF TORTOISE'S "A TITLE COMES")
MCENTIRE: We've never done anything quite like this before. We've played with smaller ensembles, but this is going to be - you know, we're going to have like 30 to 35 players, I believe, on stage with us. It's going to be immersive. And, like, even just listening to these mock-ups of the orchestrations, it's kind of, like, mind-blowing to be honest.
RASCOE: It took 10 years for Tortoise to come out with another album. Will fans have to wait that long for the next one?
MCENTIRE: Absolutely not.
(LAUGHTER)
MCENTIRE: And we're on a roll.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: That's John McEntire and Jeff Parker of the post-rock outfit Tortoise. Thank you so much for taking time to speak with us.
MCENTIRE: Thank you.
PARKER: Thank you for having us.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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