Tennis: The Seafaring Singers

Tennis: The Seafaring Singers
by AnneLise Sorensen

It’s said that the best way to get to know a person is by living with them.

But to really get to know them? Sail the length of the Atlantic Seaboard together, in a small boat, for eight months.

That’s what husband-and-wife duo and Tennis band members Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley did––and it’s also where they wrote many of the buoyant, sea-themed ballads for their first album, “Cape Dory,” which was released in 2011.

No one (including us, as you’ve just read) could resist the seafaring hook, and the Denver-based Tennis became known, for better or for worse, as “that sailing band.”

Not any more. Moore and Riley have pulled in the sails and disembarked onto dry land in their powerful new album, “Young & Old.” Hear for yourself: Tennis will be lobbing out songs to the audience this year throughout the U.S. Stay tuned for upcoming tour dates.

In “Young & Old,” bright-eyed hope still bubbles at the surface––and Moore’s voice is as breathy as ever––but the guitars are grungier and heavier, and the lyrics venture into weary “what-does-it-all-mean?” territory. The open sea may still be there––but in this album, it’s just beyond reach.

Tennis, Fat Possum Records, fatpossum.com.

“Tennis, Anyone?” by AnneLise Sorensen originally appeared on MSN (Microsoft Network) Postbox.