Instrumental Chicago-based Tortoise have been playing and writing together intermittently across an impressive period of 25 years with this year marking the release of their latest album, The Catastrophist. Now, they are are set to start a European tour in support of the album as the trailer above points out.
The Catastrophist is their seventh studio album to date and was released in January this year – their first since 2009’s Beacons of Ancestorship. Like their previous work, The Catastrophist feature’s the instrumental quintet’s genre-melding approach, combining synth melodies and jazz influenced guitar leads. The album originated in part from a commission from the City of Chicago in 2010, to make music related to Chicago’s noted improvisational jazz scenes.
Tortoise’s John Herndon told tQ in 2016 that the original themes set by the commission “are there but they’re well worked over from the original versions” and that “original songs were written with soloists in mind”.
You can check the full list of dates for their EU tour below.
Tortoise European Tour Dates
October
27th – Seterolux @ Festival Soy, Nantes, France
28th – Krakatoa, Bordeaux, France
29th – Les Rockomotives Festival, Vendôme, France
30th – Epicerie Moderne, Feyzin, France
31st – La Cartonnerie, Reims, France
November
1st – Conne Island, Leipzig, Germany
2nd – Teatr SzekspirowskiGdansk, Poland
3rd – Niebo, Warsaw, Poland
4th – Beatpol, Dresden, Germany
5th – John Dee, Oslo, Norway
6th – Zwischenbau, Rostock, Germany
7th – Bahnhof Langendreer, Bochum, Germany
8th – Harmonie, Bonn, Germany
9th – Pfalbau, Ludwigshafen, Germany
10th – Südpol, Luzern, Switzerland
11th – Lagerhaus, Bremen, Germany
12th – Sonic City Festival, B-Kortrijik, Belgium
13th – Le Guess Who? Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands
