Genre-defining Chicago post-rock outfit Tortoise (Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Doug McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker) have announced details of their forthcoming new album The Catastrophist, due out January 22nd via Thrill Jockey. The Catastrophist is Tortoise’s first studio album in almost seven years. The group first rose to prominence in the early-to-mid-90s with their debut album Tortoise (1994) and its follow-up Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996), which applied dub methodology, tape manipulation and other experimental strategies to a rock format, thereby shaping the genre known as post-rock.
The new album was recorded at John McEntire’s famed Soma Studios and features an somewhat unexpected cover of David Essex’s dub-laden 1973 hit ‘Rock On’ (sung by Todd Rittmann of Chicago math rock outfit US Maple). Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley is also present, lending her vocals to ‘Yonder Blue’. This is the first time a Tortoise album has featured a guest vocalist singing original lyrics.
The first single to be taken from the album, ‘Gesceap’ is decribed as “a seven minute long, minimalist rhythmic piece, morphing from two gently intersecting synth lines into a pounding, frenzied full-band finish”.
Listen to ‘Gesceap’ from The Catastrophist:
For more info visit Tortoise’s website
