Simply put, Tortoise has spent nearly 25 years making music that defies description. While the Chicago-based instrumental quintet has nodded to dub, rock, jazz, electronica and minimalism throughout its revered and influential six-album discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own. It's a fact that remains true on The Catastrophist, Tortoise's first studio album in nearly seven years. And it's an album where moody, synth-swept jams like the opening title track cozy up next to hypnotic, bass-and-beat missives like 'Shake Hands With Danger' and a downright strange cover of David Essex's 1973 radio smash 'Rock On' sung by U.S. Maple's Todd Rittman. Also included is the bittersweet, honest-to-goodness soul ballad 'Yonder Blue,' sung by Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley. 'We'd finished the track and decided it would be good to have vocals on it,' recalls McEntire. 'Robert Wyatt was our first choice, but he had just retired and politely said no. We were discussing asking Geo