Acclaimed indie-pop duo Tennis today releases their seventh studio album, Face Down In The Garden, arriving via their own Mutually Detrimental label. Produced and recorded by the husband and wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore in their Denver, CO home studio, the album marks the final recordings from this incarnation of Tennis. Offsetting intuitive melodies with unusual arrangements, the new album sees the duo returning to their roots; making music that both feels familiar but also resists convention. Tennis has fully blossomed and leaves listeners with an LP that is unquestionably their most fully realized effort and a natural ending point.
“Face Down In The Garden is our seventh studio album,” says Moore. “The inspiration for new work came while we were still on the road touring Pollen. We felt a clear pull to write new music, but ran up against a series of bizarre setbacks. We blew tires and lost an engine. I developed a chronic illness. We took a doomed voyage that culminated in an attempted robbery at sea. Fragments of songs that first arrived like gifts from the universe later refused to be completed. Our days were awash in major and minor crises that dragged the album out endlessly.
“Patrick and I felt out of sync with the world, as though we had been ejected from the flow of life. My response was to bury myself in my own memories. Those years weren’t easier or better, but I could make sense of them. In Face Down In The Garden, I trace the arc of my life through a series of vignettes: a first moment of connection, a conversation at a wedding, a night offshore, a tour diary.
Over the years our sound has evolved into three distinct categories: Brill Building, synth-pop, and rock. Face Down In The Garden occupies all of that space. Except for the help of some outside drumming, we worked and recorded alone as we have done for the last few albums. We wanted to write ourselves off the map by doing the unexpected thing, offsetting intuitive melodies with unusual arrangements, to make music that feels familiar but resists convention. Despite being rattled by a strange year, it is our most confident album. We are very excited for you to listen, preferably loud and on headphones.”
Tennis announced the news of their indefinite hiatus earlier this month with the release of the single “12 Blown Tires.” Met with an outpouring of love over the bittersweet news, Moore shed additional light on the duo’s decision:
“When we recorded ’12 Blown Tires’ a few months later, I had the sense of distilling the past 15 years into four minutes of music. It felt like the end of something, though I wasn’t sure what. Patrick and I spent most of our 20s and all of our 30s focused on Tennis. It has been the most joyous, bewildering, challenging, and humbling experience. After finishing Face Down In The Garden, it became clear that we had said everything we wanted to say and achieved everything we wanted to achieve with our band. This will be our last studio album, at least in this configuration as Tennis. We are ready to pursue other creative projects and to make space in our lives for new things. In that light, the upcoming tour feels more poignant, like a concluding thought. These two kids from Denver who only ever dreamed of playing a few house shows are very fulfilled. Perhaps we’ll see you on the road. As always, thank you.”
As noted, Tennis will both celebrate the arrival of Face Down In The Garden and say farewell to fans with a wide-ranging North American headline tour beginning May 16 at Las Vegas, NV’s Swan Dive and then traveling into early September. Highlights include such iconic venues as Minneapolis, MN’s First Avenue (May 21), Chicago, IL’s The Salt Shed (May 23), New York City’s The Rooftop at Pier 17 (June 1), Austin, TX’s Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater (June 11), and Los Angeles, CA’s famed Greek Theatre (August 20). Special guests include Husbands (May 16-17) and Billie Marten (May 21-June 11). For complete details and ticket availability, please visit tennis-music.com.
Tennis will bookend this milestone moment by sharing Neutral Poetry: First Recordings, Unreleased Demos 2009-2010, a new EP of previously unheard tracks from the very beginning of their artistic career, available on Friday, May 16. The eight-song collection includes early versions of such fan favorites as “Cape Dory,” “Marathon,” “South Carolina,” “Baltimore,” and “Pigeon,” along with exclusive demo recordings of the never-before-available songs, “Key Largo,” “April and It’s Still Snowing,” and “One Day This Will Be a Good Songgg.”
PRAISE FOR FACE DOWN IN THE GARDEN
“Modern indie-pop staples” — PITCHFORK
“Though Tennis may be over, their spirit, they seem to suggest, will live on.” — PASTE
“As a last hurrah, Face Down In The Garden earns the distinction: a classically Tennis record filled with grand, misty-eyed gestures like ‘Weight of Desire’ and ‘At The Wedding,’ it’s the lush capstone to the sound they’ve mastered.” — THE FADER
“Tennis is their shared language and with that mother-tongue of their long-term connection, they seem to find a way past those limitations I too face.” — FAR OUT MAGAZINE
“Dedicated listeners are rewarded thoroughly; true to their aims, this may be Tennis’s best album yet.” — EXCLAIM!
“Tennis’ Face Down in the Garden immortalizes, in the form of artistry…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.” — FLOOD
“Tennis has always been a band of subtleties — their version of pop never chased trends or volume. They thrived in texture, in atmosphere, in that liminal space between nostalgia and presence. Face Down in the Garden distills everything they’ve learned into a final, subdued statement. This isn’t a grandiose exit. Just one last exhale. A subtle nod. Then silence.” — NORTHERN TRANSMISSIONS
“Face Down in the Garden is a floaty, wonderful goodbye from the group which serves not just as a surprise, but a well-earned and satisfying farewell. Make no mistake, this is goodbye. Tennis knows they can end on a creative peak, and choose to. They have not run out of road, but are satisfied with the view of where they stop.” — CULT FOLLOWING
“Moore’s captivating voice floats effortlessly over a groovy bassline, dreamy synths, and starry vibraphone touches, scattered here and there.” — CONSEQUENCE
“It feels good, intoxicating and addicting even, to fully embody desire at its sweetest and kindest form, rather than take into account all the times it has failed, and that sentiment is clear through the production.” — ATWOOD MAGAZINE
# # #
TENNIS – FACE DOWN IN THE GARDEN TOUR 2025
MAY
16 – Las Vegas, NV – Swan Dive *
17 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall *
18 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party #
21 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue †
23 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed †
24 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI Annex †
25 – Cleveland, OH – Globe Iron †
27 – Toronto, ON – The Concert Hall †
30 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner †
31 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall †
JUNE
1 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17 †
3 – Washington, DC – The Anthem †
5 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz †
6 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern †
7 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl Nashville †
9 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum †
10 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs) †
11 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater †
AUGUST
18 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
20 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
22 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy + Harriet’s
23 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
24 – Santa Fe, NM – The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co.
26 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
28 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall
29 – Portland, OR – McMenamins Grand Lodge
30 – Vancouver, BC – Malkin Bowl
SEPTEMBER
2 – Sacramento, CA – Channel 24 ^
4 – Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery ^
* w/ Special Guests Husbands
† w/ Special Guest Billie Marten
# Festival Appearance
# # #
TENNIS – FACE DOWN IN THE GARDEN (Mutually Detrimental) Tracklist:
- At The Apartment
- Weight Of Desire
- At The Wedding
- Always The Same
- Sister
- Through The Mirror
- I Can Only Describe You
- 12 Blown Tires
- In Love (Release The Doves)
TENNIS NEUTRAL POETRY: FIRST RECORDINGS, UNRELEASED DEMOS 2009-2010 (Mutually Detrimental) Tracklist:
- South Carolina (Demo Version 11.5.09)
- Marathon (Demo Version 01.14.10)
- Baltimore (Demo Version 09.03.09)
- Pigeon (Demo Version 08.26.09)
- Key Largo (Demo 08.20.09)
- April and It’s Still Snowing (Demo 09.01.09)
- Cape Dory (Demo Version 11.03.09)
- One Day This Will Be a Good Songgg (Demo 01.19.10)
# # #
Press Contacts:
Ken Weinstein
weinstein@bighassle.com
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