Tortoise returns with their first new release since 2016: the digital single “Oganesson,” out now via International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. Arriving just ahead of their set at Knoxville’s boundary-pushing Big Ears Festival, the track offers a glimpse into a forthcoming project (details to come). Their festival performance will feature both new material and highlights from a catalog that’s shaped over three decades of experimental music.
Formed in Chicago, Tortoise—Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, and John McEntire—has long been hailed as one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years. They’ve continually pushed genre boundaries, weaving together threads of psych-rock, post-punk, electro-jazz, and instrumental twang without ever being tethered to one style. As Pitchfork put it, Tortoise is “the choke point” in a sprawling musical web—impossible to define, yet unmistakably singular.
With just seven albums since 1990, including landmarks like Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT, the band has made each release count. But Tortoise’s reputation is equally built on their live shows—celebrated by Rolling Stone and The New York Times alike for their dynamic, shape-shifting energy. As Pitchfork notes, beneath the cerebral textures lies “a supremely fun band, wide open to all sorts of sonic possibilities.”
Photo by Todd Weaver