Music / Tennis

Wandering through the moonlight, feel the softness of the air
Sleeping in the shadows of the heavens, so expansive in the waning light...

—"Night Vision"

Tennis is an Indie Pop duo from Denver, Colorado, made up of husband and wife Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore. The couple met in a philosophy class at the University of Colorado in 2008, and decided to form a band following an eight-month sailing trip down the Eastern Seaboard of the USA after graduation. Their first album, Cape Dory, documents their experiences from that trip.

Despite being from Flyover Country, Tennis has the soft, lo-fi, lively sounds associated with surf pop, influenced by bands like The Shirelles.

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Tennis discography:

Studio Albums

• Cape Dory (2011)
• Young & Old (2012)
• Ritual in Repeat (2014)
• Yours Conditionally (2017)
• Swimmer (2020)
• Pollen (2023)

EPs

• Small Sound (2013)
• We Can Die Happy (2017)

Tennis show examples of:

• Biblical Motifs:
  • "Origins" is the story of the Garden of Eden from Eve's perspective, criticizing how the entire race of women were blamed for Eve eating the apple.
  • "Runner" references the story of Lot's wife being turned into a "pillar of salt" in the Book of Genesis.
  • "Late Night" references Mary Magdalene, a close confidant of Jesus.
• Concept Album: Cape Dory was written as a way of documenting the couple's experiences while sailing down the east coast of America in 2010. Several of the songs are named for places they visited - "South Carolina", "Baltimore", "Bimini Bay" in Miami, and "Marathon" in the Florida Keys.
• Cover Version: Of "Superstar" by the Carpenters, who are an influence of theirs.
• Darker and Edgier: Not to the point of actually becoming dark and edgy, but Young & Old and Ritual in Repeat were produced by old hands of the rock world Patrick Carney of The Black Keys and Jim Eno of Spoon. This resulted in a subtle but noticeable move away from the tweeness of Cape Dory to a slightly more intense sound.
• Face on the Cover: Usually Alaina is on the cover, but both of them appear on the covers of Swimmer and Pollen (though Patrick's back is turned on both of them). Subverted for Ritual in Repeat where Alaina's face is obscured with white.
• Genre Throwback: Their cover of "Superstar" has some slick 80s throwback Synth-Pop production.
• Grief Song:
  • "In The Morning I'll Be Better" is about the day that they learned that Patrick's father was diagnose with cancer.
  • "Swimmer" is about the death of Patrick Riley's father and spreading his ashes in the ocean.
• Ironic Fear: Swimmer was named after Alaina's fear of swimming, despite starting their career singing about their experience on the water.
• New Sound Album: The more indie rock Young & Old compared to the twee pop of Cape Dory. Swimmer delves into more Synth-Pop.
• One-Man Song: "Timothy."
• One-Woman Song: "Glorietta."
• Quirky Curls: Alaina's natural hair. In this interview she talks about how she used to hate them until she became inspired by pictures of Whitney Houston performing in the 80s.
• Sequel Song: "Matrimony" and "Matrimony II." Fittingly, "Matrimony" is about their wedding day, "Matrimony II" is reflecting on their wedding day years after the fact.
• Song Style Shift: In "Need Your Love", the tempo is slowed down in each chorus.
• Tomboy: "Ladies Don't Play Guitar," invoking some casual sexism Alaina heard growing up that playing guitar is unladylike.
• Textless Album Cover: Swimmer, Pollen
• Women Are Wiser: On "My Emotions Are Blinding" Alaina sings, "Women are much closer to nature." Though some other lyrics imply this is more tongue-in-cheek.