San Francisco – Songwriting is a craft that many people wish they had at their disposal. For some, true mastery is only achieved through unwavering discipline and long, arduous days of introspection. Many artists eventually do discover their true sound, but the effort can sometimes be blaringly obvious, as their apparent struggle takes the form of a multitude of cocoons used for metamorphic purposes that are scattered throughout their earlier career. On the other hand, some bands make it look so damn easy.
Denver’s Tennis—a duo made up of husband-and-wife team Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley—are in the latter category. The two started writing music as a way to relate the experiences of living on a sailboat, which came in the form of their 2011 debut, Cape Dory. They followed up the next year with the grittier Young and Old, on which they worked with the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, to alter their sound ever so slightly, embracing harsher timbres and a flair for lo-fi instrumentation. This month, with a new label and a trio of talented producers behind them, Tennis triumphantly return with Ritual in Repeat, a crowning achievement that is so flawless, it almost seems effortless.
Tennis’s first two albums found grace in their simplicity. Having only two members in a band can often be a pretense for some to overcompensate, as artists understandably feel the need to fill in the gaps that fellow band mates usually occupy with cacophonous levels of orchestration. Tennis has never fallen in that trap. The two musicians play off each other exceedingly well, and are able to fill the air with just enough sound.
The album’s three producers—Spoon’s Jim Eno, The Shins’ Richard Swift, and Carney—all had their hands in forming the dough that would eventually rise into Ritual in Repeat, yet not at the same time…and you would never have guessed it. Though some songs definitely tote telltale influences from each individual producer, the album itself is one solid loaf of tasty, flaky bread, and while all three producers are exceptionally gifted, it’s Moore’s and Riley’s combined talents in crafting thoughtful, accessible songs as the real reason why it comes together so nicely.
The album’s lead single, the joyful, frolicking “Never Work For Free,” is a good example of this with its bouncy nature that Moore’s soothing vocals emit as Riley’s playful guitar skips underneath like a child playing hopscotch. Moore’s lyrics toy with the notions of the exhaustion one feels as part of a seemingly one-sided relationship, though her delivery of the words “a single syllable contained my history/never knew one word could mean so much to me” emanate a sense of loving insistence rather than frustration. The instrumentation brings to mind the music of Brooklyn electronic duo Chairlift, with just the right amount of synths punctuating the track in just the right places. Music writer and SiriusXM radio DJ Jenny Eliscu even went so far as to say that this may be her “favorite Tennis song ever.”
No other track on Ritual quite matches the upbeat nature of “Never Work For Free”—the only other to come close is the fourth track “I’m Callin’,” a now-or-never love song that sounds like a lost Cardigans track—but that doesn’t mean this album is depressing. Far from it. The opening track, the gorgeously produced “Night Vision,” boasts beautiful imagery, as evident in the chorus of the song, when Moore dreamily sings “wandering through the moonlight, feel the softness of the air/sleeping in the shadows of the heavens, so expansive in the way you lie.” With this song, Moore assigns heavy significance to the beauty of the world, that is transformed through the eyes of one who is truly enamored, which echoes through the delicate guitar that dots the song, like stars in a moonless night sky.
What is so extraordinary about Tennis’s music is that Moore has a true talent of evoking empathy through her carefully chosen words, and that Riley’s instrumentation rises up to meet them. On the doo-wop-like track “Bad Girls,” Moore works in simple couplets that bob about amidst a diligently fashioned solution of slowly ascending ‘50s guitar, flickering synths, and muted yet altogether imperative percussion. The same goes for the apologetic ballad “Timothy,” as Moore’s pleading lyrics meander through Riley’s deceptively sunny arrangement. The acoustic ballad “Wounded Heart”—the album’s shortest song at one minute forty-nine seconds—and the tender “This Song Isn’t Yours,”—a nice little tune celebrating pleasant simplicity (‘it’s nothing profound, just a sweet sound)—deftly exhibit the duo’s innate ability to provide rich-sounding pieces with just a few simple tools.
This album isn’t a far departure from their older work; it’s just a step in new direction. What we have here is the same Tennis that stole our hearts back in 2011, just a slightly different version. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Ritual in Repeat is out September 9 via Communion Records. For information visit the band’s website.
Corey Bell
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