“We wanted to write a big album,” says Alaina Moore of Tennis. “Something suitable for radio, but our songs didn’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I wrote with a specificity that was new to me, focusing on the smallest details of our lives. The more we tried to broaden our horizons, the more we turned inward.”
“In order not to fall into old habits, we used instruments and equipment that were new to us. We worked alone and Patrick made the recordings. The sounds he produced were as important as any part he wrote. We resisted the urge to over-edit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums, which were more walls of sound, we were careful not to overpower my voice with a dense mix.
“We called the album POLLEN. It’s about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a decision. It’s about me in a fragile state that I sometimes live out freely, sometimes fight against. It’s about striving to stay in a moment without slipping into fear. It’s about the way I can be thrown off balance by a very small thing.”
“One Night With The Valet” follows Tennis’ landmark fifth album, the highly acclaimed SWIMMER, released in 2020. The album was written during a four-month sailing trip in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez and subsequently produced and recorded by Riley and Moore in their home studio. With breakthrough singles like “Runner” and “Need Your Love” both accompanied by colourful Luca Venter-directed accompanying videos now available on Tennis’ official YouTube channel, the duo have taken their distinctive pop approach to unprecedented heights.
Last year, Tennis SWIMMER celebrated with their biggest live North American schedule to date, marked by sold-out headline shows – including two sold-out nights at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles and the Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY – and festival appearances across the country.
Photo: Luca Venter
