Tortoise

Douglas McCombs and Jeff Parker make long-awaited contact with their luxurious new album, Touch

- ADAM KOVAC

MAYBE IT'S TRITE to say that a band called Tortoise needs to go slow to win the race, but there's a good reason for it; nine years passed between the last two releases for the post-rock pioneers. Fortunately, fans' patience was rewarded with last year's Touch, which had all the band's hallmark sounds — the textured guitar melodies, the occasionally jazzy chord work, the little riffs that reveal increasing complexity on repeat listens. It's the result of a methodical recording schedule that kicked off in late 2021 with a session in Portland. The quintet, whose members dabble in numerous side and solo projects, would meet up every six months or so there, in Los Angeles, or in Chicago, laying down new ideas until they felt they had a coherent record. To achieve that cohesion, the instrumental band focused on its ability to generate memorable, if unconventional, melodies.