The album is based on Davis’s 2016 release Duopoly where she played several duos with clarinetist Don Byron, guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Marcus Gilmore—one part was with Taborn.

In the liner notes for Octopus, Davis explains: "From the moment we started playing I felt instantly transported and free within the music, and had the sense we could go anywhere...

[9] Mac Randall of JazzTimes wrote "An oceangoing organism with one brain and eight independent neuron-bearing limbs is the perfect image to invoke for a rather intense collection of piano duets".

Taborn and Davis’ conversant style is parallel to the free jazz of likeminded pianists such as Cecil Taylor, Don Pullen or Paul Bley".

Even when playing at full stretch, pianists Kris Davis and Craig Taborn deliver the control and sense of purpose of a single intelligence.