Tennis

Face Down In The Garden, Tennis’ seventh album, is both culmination and reflection of their career. From the perspective of fifteen years on the road and ten thousand miles at sea, frontwoman Alaina Moore attempts to distill the arc of a life into vignettes: a first moment of connection, a conversation at a wedding, a night offshore, a sprawling tour diary.  

The album is succinct but potent, highlighting Tennis’ concise songwriting and unconventional arrangements. Self-produced and recorded in their studio, Tennis builds upon their early minimalist girl-group sound, expanding into more mature synth-pop and rock elements.

The duo met in the University of Colorado’s philosophy department in 2008, when Patrick Riley recognized Moore as the waitress from a diner he frequented. (This moment was later immortalized in their song Hotel Valet.)  After graduating, they spent eight months living aboard a small sailboat, voyaging along the eastern seaboard–a practice that would become integral to their creative process. Their debut album Cape Dory (2011, Fat Possum) documents that experience. Tennis booked their first tour through the help of a robust DIY scene. While on the road, their lead single “Marathon” went viral, gaining them sudden notoriety. Cape Dory debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseeker chart and transitioned Tennis from house shows to main stages in the course of a year.

Tennis recorded their sophomore effort Young & Old (2012) with Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, marking their first collaboration with an outside producer and their television debuts on The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

In 2013, Tennis spent sixteen days recording with Richard Swift in his home studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Moore and Riley were heavily influenced by Swift’s distinctive approach to engineering. This prompted the duo to build their own studio and take over production and engineering roles on future releases.

Moore and Riley solidified their creative autonomy by forming the label Mutually Detrimental in 2016. Yours Conditionally, their first self-release, became their most commercially successful album, charting on Billboard’s top 50 vinyl sales and proving their DIY roots as a cornerstone to their sound and narrative. 

Swimmer (2020, Mutually Detrimental) marked a sonic evolution. Moore and Riley expanded their palette with unique time signatures and arrangements, stepping fully into their roles as songwriters and producer-engineers. But with nearly every show sold out, Swimmer’s momentum was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. The duo spent the time at home exploring their role as producers by making records for other artists. 

Tennis has continued to thrive by operating on the fringes of the music industry. They’ve survived the flash-in-the-pan fate of so many bands from the early ‘00’s blog-era. Their sixth album, Pollen, saw them grow into the biggest tour of their career, with sold out shows at historic venues like The Beacon Theatre and The Palladium.  

Face Down In The Garden is Tennis’ most fully realized work. Crafted entirely by their own hands and guided by their fierce independence, it stands as testament to a band unwavering from their original vision. Tennis embarks on the first leg of their North American Tour in May.