AURAL SOUNDSCAPE

Thrill Jockey band Tortoise performs songs a la tropical jam band style, though the quintet is comprised of Chicago-based musicians who have switched arms countless times over the band's 10 year span. However, with its fifth album release, It's All Around You, Tortoise has poked its true form out its shell and become a steady, dedicated musical project.\nLike hosts off a Target-purchased Pure Moods album, Tortoise remains atmospheric, orchestral and serene as it opens with its album's namesake track. No more karma chameleons for these musicians, the band has finally found its niche performing abstract, fluid songs open to interpretation and one step further than an electronic home space jam. \nAccording to Tortoise musician Dan Bitney, it has been three years since the band's last tour. "It's been really fun," he says. "We got to stay a few days in San Francisco, and that's always a good time."\nThe cover of It's All Around You is a digitally designed kaleidoscope of colors set in a natural, tropical setting, almost as colorful and surreal as the band itself. On the album, the guys perform on guitar, marimba, bass and keyboards, which create soundclips tinged by Asian and European influence alike. Performance art through instrumentation, the band members play technically challenging notes that offer more than a repetitive beat. \n"In general terms, it was a strange start for the band with a double rhythm section and mallet instruments. We didn't think that this would be our career band, but then we started getting popular," says Bitney.\n"There are different uses for our music," he adds. "A lot of people see it as a soundtrack to life. People attach what's going on in their lives to the instrumentals. It's ambiguous."\nAccording to Bitney, fans have reported listening to It's All Around You and found the perfect album about the wonders of love, while others have listened to the same tracks and heard "all songs about breaking up." This just proves that music is in the ears of the beholder.\n"I actually thought of a joke title for our album. I wanted to call the record Lovers," says Bitney.\nAccording to SoundScan, Tortoise's self-titled debut (1994) and its sophomore album, Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996), have sold 75,000 copies combined, making the band familiar as if on the tip of your tongue but not yet a daily household name.\n"It's pretty similar," Bitney says, comparing the band's latest with previous releases. "The aesthetic changes of the earlier records were more dramatic, but on this record we worked with weird developments, more instruments, arrangements and strings."\nWith its fifth album easy to get lost in, the band's tracks become daydreamed mental landscapes brought on by improvised melodies. Not a rock band by any means but a musically-driven jazz outfit, Tortoise falls like petals around what bands like Phish have made popular. \nAfter several positive tracks, the album transitions into a "Lost Highway"-esque theme with "Unknown." Then It's All Around You ends with "Salt the Skies," an expression of chaotic climax following the tinkered-out "Five Too Many", a track that should have been added to a "Super Mario" game.\nWhen asked if Bitney daydreams or thinks of anything especially surreal while writing or recording a song, he responds, "Not that I can recall. We experiment while we're recording. There is time to daydream, but we mostly just start playing a song and see where it takes us. There is no real leader. We're all level musically," he says. "Jazz is a big part and so is rock and experimental improvisation. Each person has different influences. Tortoise is fresh because it's not genre specific. It makes it challenging itself."\nLayered tones of experimental sounds make it apparent that Tortoise recorded the album at member John McEntire's Soma Electronic Music Studios, whose clients have included Wilco and Streolab. McEntire, also a member of The Sea and Cake, leads the way in terms of musical dynamics. He and his disciplined bandmates John Herndon, Doug McCombs, jazz-enthusiast Jeff Parker and Bitney, have all spread their wings wide, not thin, participating in numerous other musical projects simultaneously.\n"Tortoise started as a side project," says Bitney. According to him, having the band members each perform in other projects keeps the musicians on their toes. "It's super-healthy. You learn different things (while) playing and writing with different people and genres."\nWhen asked what the band's biggest barrier has been since its formation, Bitney quickly answers, "We can't go on late night TV without a singer! That's pretty frustrating. But we can play jazz festivals and rock festivals and still be an adaptable band."\nFitting and supporting its indie genre well, Tortoise will soon contribute a track to the upcoming documentary on electronic music/synth pioneer Bob Moog.\n"We did a cover of an original jazz standard for the soundtrack," says Bitney. "We developed a relationship with Moog, because we'd play in Asheville, N.C., and we'd buy equipment from him there."\nCurrently on world tour for the release of its studio-born album, Tortoise will soon plan its next record. \n"It's great that we can play creative music," continues Bitney. "We couldn't (sell out) if we tried."\nTortoise will perform with Beans and Pitter Pat in Bloomington courtesy of Dirty Scarecrow Productions at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Sun., June 13. \nFor more on Tortoise, visit www.thrilljockey.com.