Tennis
Face Down in the Garden
MUTUALLY DETRIMENTAL
ABOVE THE CURRENT
Oh, the irony of indie-pop act Tennis releasing their seventh album through their self-operated label they decided to name “Mutually Detrimental.” You see, two months after the band announced Face Down in the Garden, on Valentine’s Day—a super-sweet gesture on the part of the husband and wife who comprise the project—they then announced that the record would be their last. We don’t know the full story yet behind why Tennis are calling it quits, but it’s fair to say the development was unexpected, given the substantial promotional effort they put into their new release preceding the surprise announcement.
But there were clues. Anyone familiar with Tennis knows they’ve come close to packing it up before, due to all sorts of hardships. In the February announcement of the incoming record, Alaina Moore delivered an extensive statement that didn’t describe the music that would be featured on the new LP, or the pride that Tennis felt in it, but rather a series of hardships—or, as she referred to them, “bizarre setbacks”—that she and Patrick Riley had endured prior to its creation. Among them were major vehicular malfunctions while touring in support of Tennis’ previous album, 2023’s Pollen, a chronic illness, and—proving her fitting usage of the term “bizarre”—an attempted robbery that apparently took place while the spouses were on a month-long sailing expedition recording demos for Garden.
Keeping in mind those challenges, Tennis do a good job of keeping a straight face throughout Face Down in the Garden. As if staying true to their (non-matrimonial) vow as a band that reliably delivers tranquil, escapist music, they calmly issue forth their always whimsical yet never overly precious musical blend of psych-tinged pop from start to finish. The waters are particularly calm on the beatific “At the Apartment,” the ethereal closer “In Love (Release the Doves),” and the hushed “Weight of Desire.” “Always the Same” sparkles in Beach House fashion, “At the Wedding” tickles with a little bit of the dance-pop that inevitably figures into each Tennis record, and “12 Blown Tires”—the subject of which is obvious—suggests that Tennis can keep their cool when things go south.
Roughly two weeks ago, Moore issued another statement that was as dispassionately generic as her February one was rich with striking and disturbing detail. She spoke to the effect of her and Riley having “achieved everything [they] wanted to achieve,” were “ready to pursue other creative projects”—the standard fare in the announcement of a band’s breakup. (Tennis will release an EP of early recordings on May 16, and on the same day launch a tour that will stretch into early September.) Fortunately, though, Tennis’ Face Down in the Garden immortalizes, in the form of artistry instead of public relations statements, the true emotional state and existential realities that the husband and wife duo were going through when they recorded it. And it’s that honesty, and that purity, that will make Tennis’ final record the most genuine one they ever made.
