Fat Possum; 2011
Our take - 6.5
I like what Pitchfork writer Mark Richardson said in his review of Tennis' debut album Cape Dory, "In May 2010, when homemade indie pop of every stripe was deep in the throes of its baffling obsession with the beach, a new band was taking the music to the next logical place: the open sea." I often like to ignore backing stories when critiquing an album, but with a band like Tennis, the story is almost as good as the tunes themselves.
Tennis are a husband and wife duo hailing from Denver, CO, that graduated from college, pawned their possessions, bought a sailboat and took off for the Eastern Seaboard. Cape Dory reflects their travels; open sea and open air imagery saturate the album as do themes of romance and nostalgia. The album would sound right at home with some of the girl-pop groups from the 60's or 80's and the recording is appropriately lo-fi. Alaina Moore's voice is their most powerful instrument, her enunciation is particularly interesting and she has a good tune and understanding of how a pop song should function.
The individual songs are simple, short, catchy and sweet, but listening to the whole album is somewhat of a drag. Cape Dory clocks in at less than 30 minutes, but seems much longer. Interesting story, interesting album concept, interesting nostalgic take, fairly run of the mill album.
i love love love tennis. and their background story is so cute, just heard them on npr last week, and they sound sweet. im glad you included them.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you said something about Tennis. I'm already somewhat doubting the initial review I gave them. Something keeps bringing me back to their album.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is their incredible pop-sensibility or just how damn cute they are, I can't stop listening.
You have a favorite track on the album? Mine has to be "South Carolina".