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 with the video filmed and directed by Mikel Patrick Avery.

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 savoured 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.

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.

TOUR DATES

Los Angeles CA – Saturday October 18th – The Broad –
Austin TX – Thursday October 23rd – Radio/East –
Marfa TX – Saturday October 25th – Flying Island –
Chicago IL – Tuesday November 11th – The Auditorium w/ Chicago Philharmonic – tickts
Lexington KY – Wednesday November 12th – Singleton Center for the Arts –
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 –
London UK – Saturday November 22nd – Barbican – 1st show SOLD OUT, matinee show added
Bristol UK – Sunday November 23rd – The Prospect Building –
Leeds UK – Monday November 24th – The Irish Centre –

Helsinki FI – Tuesday January 20th – Tavastia –
Stockholm SE – Wednesday January 21st – Fasching –
Karlsruhe DE – Thursday January 22nd – Tollhaus –
Lille FR – Friday January 23rd – Aeronef –
Brussels BE – Saturday January 24th – Brussels Jazz Festival –
Perugia IT – Sunday January 25th – Teatro del Pavone –
Frankfurt DE – Monday January 26th – Zoom –
Köln DE – Tuesday January 27th – Kantine –
Paris FR – Wednesday January 28th – Le Trabendo –
Berlin DE – Thursday January 29th – Großer Sendesaal des RBB –
Dresden DE – Friday January 30th – Beatpol –

Hamburg DE – Thursday April 9th – Kampnagel –
Den Haag NL – Friday April 10th – Rewire Festival –
Brugge BE – Saturday April 11th – Cactus Club –
München DE – Sunday April 12th – Technikum –
Salzburg AT – Monday April 13th – jazz:it –
Graz AT – Tuesday April 14th – Orpheum –
St. Gallen CH – Wednesday April 15th – Palace –
Fribourg CH – Thursday April 16th – Fri-Son –
Braga PT – Sunday April 19th – Theatro Circo
Lisboa PT – Monday April 20th – Culturgest