Tortoise share "Works and Days" single
TORTOISE RELEASE "WORKS AND DAYS"
THE LATEST FROM NEW ALBUM TOUCH
OUT OCT 24 ON LP / CD / DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
OUT NOV 11 ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS
ADVANCE ALBUM LISTENING PARTIES SCHEDULED AT MORE THAN 150 RECORD STORES WORLDWIDE ON OCTOBER 18
BAND TO PERFORM ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENTS OF NEW SONGS & CLASSICS AT SPECIAL CONCERT WITH THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC
Photo by Heather CantrellToday, September 30th, Tortoise — the iconic ensemble that "reset the stage for what might fit within indie rock" (MOJO) — share "Works and Days," a patiently unfolding lattice-work of percussive shuffles, beguiling guitar figures, and iridescent synthesizer melodies. The song is the latest preview from Touch, the first new album from the groundbreaking group since 2016, out via International Anthem and Nonesuch Records on LP, CD, and digital download on October 24, 2025, and on streaming services on November 11. The new single also arrives with a perspective-shifting, slightly askew slice-of-life video directed by Alee Peoples.
Listen to “Works and Days” and preorder Touch here .
The band also announces a very special global event on Saturday October 18th, when more than 150 independent record stores around the world will host advance listening parties for Touch in their spaces, and also make the album available for in-person attendees to purchase (a full week before the album’s release). Full details and participating locations are compiled on International Anthem’s website here.
With Touch, the Tortoise band members — 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 desert guitar panoramas are all imbued with Tortoise's now-signature internal logic — equally alluring and confounding, a puzzle to be savored 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.
(Read more about Tortoise, their ground-breaking sound "informed by everything from jungle to Krautrock and musique concréte," and the creation of Touch in a feature that ran September 19 over at The Guardian.)
A series of special live 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, and two shows at the Barbican for EFG London Jazz Festival.
On November 11th they collaborate with the Chicago Philharmonic for the first time in a special concert at The Auditorium in Chicago, where they will perform Tortoise songs new and old with arrangements written by Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), Paul Von Mertens (Brian Wilson), and the band's own Jeff Parker.
Tortoise will then embark on European tours in early 2026, with more dates to be announced soon. The full list of confirmed dates and ticket links is below.
"Works and Days" is out now, listen to it here.
Touch is out October 24, preorder it here.
Touch cover art
TRACKLIST
Vexations
Layered Presence
Works and Days
Elka
Promenade à deux
Axial Seamount
A Title Comes
Rated OG
Oganesson
Night Gang
CREDITS
All music written and performed by Tortoise
Tortoise is
Dan Bitney
John Herndon
Douglas McCombs
John McEntire
Jeff Parker
Viola on “Promenade à deux” - Marta Sofia Honer
Cello on “Promenade à deux” - Skip VonKuske
Field Recordings on “Works and Days” - Tucker Martine
Recorded at
Flora Recording and Playback, Portland OR;
64 Sound, Los Angeles CA;
Electrical Audio, Chicago IL
Mixed at Soma Electronic Music Studios, Gladstone OR
Recorded and Mixed by John McEntire
Mastered by Dave Cooley
at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles CA
Scorpion Photography - Heather Cantrell
Scorpion Sculpture - Martin McEntire
Collage Image - Paw Grabowski
Layout and Design - Jeremiah Chiu
TOUR DATES
Los Angeles CA - Saturday October 18th - The Broad - tickets
Austin TX - Thursday October 23rd - Radio/East - tickets
Marfa TX - Saturday October 25th - Flying Island - tickets
Chicago IL - Tuesday November 11th - The Auditorium w/ Chicago Philharmonic - tickets
Lexington KY - Wednesday November 12th - Singleton Center for the Arts - tickets
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 - tickets
London UK - Saturday November 22nd - Barbican - 1st show SOLD OUT, matinee show added
Bristol UK - Sunday November 23rd - The Prospect Building - tickets
Leeds UK - Monday November 24th - The Irish Centre - tickets
Helsinki FI - Tuesday January 20th - Tavastia - tickets
Stockholm SE - Wednesday January 21st - Fasching - tickets
Karlsruhe DE - Thursday January 22nd - Tollhaus - tickets
Lille FR - Friday January 23rd - Aeronef - tickets
Brussels BE - Saturday January 24th - Brussels Jazz Festival - tickets
Perugia IT - Sunday January 25th - Teatro del Pavone - tickets
Frankfurt DE - Monday January 26th - Zoom - tickets
Köln DE - Tuesday January 27th - Kantine - tickets
Paris FR - Wednesday January 28th - Le Trabendo - tickets
Berlin DE - Thursday January 29th - Großer Sendesaal des RBB - tickets
Dresden DE - Friday January 30th - Beatpol - tickets
Hamburg DE - Thursday April 9th - Kampnagel - tickets
Den Haag NL - Friday April 10th - Rewire Festival - tickets
Brugge BE - Saturday April 11th - Cactus Club - tickets
München DE - Sunday April 12th - Technikum - tickets
Salzburg AT - Monday April 13th - jazz:it - tickets
Graz AT - Tuesday April 14th - Orpheum - tickets
St. Gallen CH - Wednesday April 15th - Palace - tickets
Fribourg CH - Thursday April 16th - Fri-Son - tickets
Braga PT - Sunday April 19th - Theatro Circo
Lisboa PT - Monday April 20th - Culturgest
