Music: Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship (2009)

Current Music Review: Tortoise / Beacons of Ancestorship / 2009

Review by Jordan Cronk: If any band was in dire need of a swift kick in the pants, it would have to be Tortoise. I mean, following 2004's numbingly innocuous It’s All Around You, you’d have been forgiven for assuming that the band were now just quietly riding off into the sunset, their legacy as post-rock progenitors secure and obligation to prove anything long since past. In the interim they had even released the requisite rarities box set (A Lazarus Taxon, which is essential I might add), all but signaling the end of what was one of the most groundbreaking musical acts of the 90s. Their slow recession from the spotlight coincided with the agonizing death of post-rock itself, which is rather fitting considering Tortoise arguably embodied the outlying signifiers of the genre better than anyone else. This is all to say that for all intents and purposes it felt like Tortoise had run their course, which is what makes their new record, Beacons of Ancestorship, such an unexpectedly bracing return for the group. I hesitate to call it a comeback, since they never technically broke-up, but it is most certainly a return-to-form, and even more surprising, it’s a form that the band has never fully assimilated in the past.

In other words, Beacons of Ancestorship rocks, and it actually rocks pretty hard at times. From that perspective, it also kind of rules, in as much as a late-period Tortoise record can rule (or rock) that is. This shift in approach is instantly noticeable: Eight minute opener “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” rides a circular keyboard line around stabbing bits of distorted synth and muscular percussion, and the resulting melody is inviting and memorable enough to throw the listener back in their seat, particularly if one was expecting more cocktail lounge jazz from a veteran instrumental band. The following track, “Prepare Your Coffin,” manages to consolidate the more sprawling and methodical power of ‘Slim’ into one self-contained 3-minute blast, and it already has people referring to it as Tortoise’s metal moment. That’s probably pushing it, but that riff is undeniable and those fills dizzying enough to add “math-" to the band’s laundry list of “-rock” qualifiers. If this is an apology for their recent retreat into easy-listening territory, then Tortoise, consider yourselves forgiven.

This being Tortoise though, Beacons of Ancestorship doesn’t always stay in aggressive mode, and even the chiller moments here feel more invigorated and purposeful than a great deal of their recent work, as if every note has been carefully worked out and utilized for maximum impact instead as ends unto themselves. Album highlight “Gigantes” proves that Tortoise are still adept at blurring the line between guitar and synth, while “Penumbra” sounds like a glitched-out 80s sitcom theme which purposefully bridges the gap between the former and its follow-up “Yinxianghechengqi,” whose clipped bass frequencies are startlingly bold, even for a record more consciously militant in approach. The ominous “Fall of Seven Diamonds Plus One” ushers in the album’s more sedate second half, and although Tortoise can’t keep up the momentum established by the opening blitzkrieg, this isn’t really a deal breaker. “Monument Six One Thousand” and particularly closer “Charteroak Foundation” are beautiful enough on their own to support this slight lag.

Most importantly, Beacons of Ancestorship is focused and potent enough to reassure us of Tortoise’s collective powers. As always, John McEntire’s production is immaculate, and his skill behind the boards adds a level of precision to even the album’s most combative moments. Plus, the record barely eclipses the 40-minute mark, hardly enough time to grow bored after the album’s first half gives way to more peaceful waters. The days of Tortoise making huge statements like they did with the 21-minute “Djed” or the consistently thrilling TNT have probably past, but if the band continues to surprise the way they have here, the results will never be less than interesting. Beacons of Ancestorship is a confident step in that direction, and proof that this group of scene veterans still have the ability to impress through their restlessly creative, if sadly infrequent, output. (★★½)

LAST WORD: The first album in five years from Chicago post-rock institution Tortoise finds the band reinvigorated, turning in their most potent collection of songs in years.