If you were wondering what your life has been missing for the past seven years, like there’s some untraceable gap in your life’s meaning that you can’t quite enunciate, niggling away at you each night as you lay in bed staring at the ceiling, you’re not alone. But salvation is upon us, for that missing thing, it turns out, was a new Tortoise album.
And lo, down from the windy plains of Chicago, Tortoise are set to descend into all of our lives again with The Catastrophist, an 11-track missive of the instrumental group’s finest wigged-out sonic shapeshifting that will be released January 22 via Thrill Jockey.
According to the label, The Catastrophist has all the varied hallmarks of what makes Tortoise so essential to our lives: “moody, synth-swept jams,” “a downright strange cover of David Essex’s 1973 radio smash, ‘Rock On’,” a “bittersweet, honest-to-goodness soul ballad,” “deeply intuitive interplay,” and “intersecting synth lines.” U.S. Maple’s Todd Rittmann and Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley also guest on the album.
You can confirm your joy by pre-ordering the album here and score some exclusive colored vinyl or t-shirt.
The lead single is the wiggly synth opus “Gesceap.”
Tortoise will also be preaching their unique brand of salvation via a pretty comprehensive tour in early 2016. Huzzah!
The Catastrophist
01. The Catastrophist
02. Ox Duke
03. Rock On
04. Gopher Island
05. Shake Hands With Danger
06. The Clearing Fills
07. Gesceap
08. Hot Coffee
09. Yonder Blue
10. Tesseract
11. At Odds With Logic
Tour Dates:
01.23.16 - Chicago, IL, Thalia Hall [In The Round performance]
01.24.16 – Milwaukee, WI, Mad Planet
02.07.16 - Copenhagen, DK, Vega Jr.
02.08.16 - Hamburg, DE - Fabrik
02.09.16 - Berlin, DE - Berghain
02.10.16 - Antwerpen, BE - Trix
02.11.16 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli
02.12.16 - St. Gallen, CH - Palace
02.13.16 - Geneva, CH - Antigel Festival
02.14.16 - Zürich, CH - Stall 6
02.15.16 - Reutlingen, DE - Franz.K
02.16.16 - Vienna, AT - Arena
02.17.16 - Budapest, HU - A 38
02.18.16 - Zagreb, HR - Mochvara
02.19.16 - Bologna, IT - Locomotiv Club
02.20.16 - Rome, IT - Monk Club
02.21.16 - Milan, IT - Magnolia Club
03.09.16 - Minneapolis, MNv The Cedar Cultural Center
03.11.16 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Blind Pig
03.12.16 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
03.13.16 - Montreal, QC - Fairmount
03.14.16 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
03.15.16 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
03.16.16 - New York, NY - (Le) Poisson Rouge
03.17.16 - Brooklyn, NYv Littlefield
03.18.16 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
03.19.16 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
03.20.16 – Charlottesville, VA - The Southern
03.22.16 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
03.23.16 - Newport, KY - Southgate House Revival
03.24.16 - Indianapolis, IN - Radio Radio
• Tortoise: http://www.trts.com
• Thrill Jockey: http://thrilljockey.com
More about: Tortoise