Send "Tennis " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
Another story would seem to apply to Young and Old, and it's the one about the "difficult" sophomore record. Musically, Tennis have broadened their horizons just the right amount, adding rock'n'roll muscle and a more purely pop clarity under the oversight of the Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney, who produced. A few songs still hit at the sense of love-drunk reverie that turned older tracks like "Marathon" and "South Carolina" into blog and college-radio hits. But Tennis couldn't keep writing sailing songs forever, and the new batch doesn't pull us into their world quite as easily-- and it's not only for lack of convenient biographical shorthand. They've gone from under the boardwalk to stuck in the middle....full text |
| Soundsxp |
| We all know the clichés about making second albums. Rush releasing a watered-down version of the debut to wring a few extra quid out of the initial hype; radically changing your sound to avoid being stereotyped; taking too long fretting over it so that people have stopped caring by the time it sees light of day; leaving both fans and critics scratching their heads as they attempt to 'get' the new direction a la Klaxons; totally upping your game to morph from also-rans into stadium slaying behemoths like Radiohead... the list goes on. The follow-up has been the make or break point for countless bands, but what of cutesy, lo-fi indiepop duo Tennis, a band whose longevity seemed far from certain? A few tactical moves have been made, but have been done naturally, on the band's own terms. James Barone has been added as a full time drummer to expand their core set-up to a three-piece, gone are tales of their seafaring life (which makes perfect sense as the journey chronicled on their debut took place nearly two years before that album was released), Black Key Patrick Carney was brought in to produce - again a natural choice as he's a man who understands the challenges and benefits of self-production and retaining your own sound. It's only been a year since 'Cape Dory' wowed us with its wistful, fuzzy charm, can 'Young & Old' match it?...full text |
| Blaremagazine |
| Love can be a fickle thing, but in the case of Denver’s Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, it’s not. Since their seven month sailing trip, the husband and wife duo have been able to take stories, feelings and a relationship and pen legitimate pop songs that bend styles and fuse a chemistry that’s nearly impenetrable, which blindingly outlines Tennis’ latest effort. Young & Old is a smooth continuation to the beach pop delight of Cape Dory and its sincere romanticism and with The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney at the production helm, it’s a lot bolder than one would think. Whereas the band are caught in the realism of becoming artists, their hindsight, along with their skill sets as instrumentalists, are now refined with recordings instilling hip-hop (“My Better Self”) and keys-heavy blues (“Origins”) rather than just a stretch of lo-fi. It, along with the new addition of close friend/drummer James Barone’s elastic ability with the sticks, pushes Tennis into a new territory, a place where Moore feels a lot more comfortable. On Young & Old, her songwriting still holds a personal touch to it, which is almost vague at times, but as a vocalist, her attention to melody has become almost unstoppable. On “It All Feels The Same”, her changes in pitch wrap themselves ever so gently over the rush of a grimy indie guitar while at other times, it’s able to adapt to more funk-based tempos (“Petition”) and be delightfully sweet on it’s own (“Dreaming”, “Take Me To Heaven”). It’s a trait Tennis use to invent a wave rather than wash away with the rest and Moore’s spark of voice along with Riley’s astute guitar work make the record exhilarating. Its core is cut from the band’s original sound, but the way “High Road” moves, taking that breezy indie rock and fluttering into an emphatic ending where a warm voice swoons along to chords and makes even the word “paradise” pop, is what’s so distinct. Like their last album, Tennis have created another collection that’s a true record from beginning to end. It’s not culture-defying but it’s a graceful mix of summery rock n’ roll, Motown-era pop and new wave elements that’s almost too rapturous to sing along to when you can just let every riff and line about love and complex emotion sink in....full text |
Tennis lyrics Music videoclips
|
| ||||||||||
