These two are married and making sweet music together! We latched onto them once we heard producers from the likes of the Black Keys, Spoon and The Shins have been involved in the process – yes that’s a very impressive musical repitoire of human beings. Anything dreamy with an 80’s sound gets us going and their latest single has topped their previous vibrations in the industry. Listen to the best of Tennis so far!
After two albums of gorgeous, breezily lissom beach pop, the husband and wife duo of Tennis look set to make the big leap into the next phase of their career with “Ritual in Repeat”, their boldest, most polished and confident record to date.
Produced in three different cities with three prodigiously talented producers (The Black Keys’ Pat Carney, Spoon’s Jim Eno and The Shins’ Richard Swift), “Ritual In Repeat” represents a startling expansion for Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, and a sumptuous deepening of their sound. Here their knack for an effortlessly melodic hook has been sharpened to a knife-edge, the vocals are at once more robust and emotive, and there are definite shadings to the bright pop palette, with piercing sadness and melancholy cutting through the sweetness.
As a result, while “Ritual in Repeat” certainly cements their position as masters of pop classicism at its finest, it also delivers some unexpected surprises. Teaser single “Never Work For Free” sets a tale against a rich, shimmering vintage 70’s backdrop, while “I’m Callin’” dips its toe into 80’s funk, sounding like “Into the Blue” era Madonna fronting The Shirelles. The supine “Wounded Heart” pairs spectral folk with niggling melodies, and “Needle and a Knife” is a yearning, soaring, bittersweet mini-anthem; Tennis at their very best. As far as progressions go, this is definitely an exciting one, a maturation of sorts which finds the band finally playing in the same field as other pop contemporaries such as Haim. One can only wonder what they’ll do on the next one.
