Indie-pop husband-wife duo Tennis announced their sixth album, Pollen, available February 10, 2023, via the band’s own label Mutually Detrimental. “One Night with the Valet,” produced and recorded by Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore at their home studio in Denver, Colorado, is our first taste of their 2020s follow-up. Swimmer.
“One Night with the Valet” is as fleeting as its title suggests, passing in less than two minutes. Over mid-tempo percussion, throbbing bass, and interconnected keys, Moore sings about a desire far greater than herself: “Finding myself tempted by the face of love/I’m truly afraid that I’ll never be able to to have enough. ” Her voice is as ethereal as the images she conjures (“We ride high to watch over silent things / Like pearls scattered at our feet”), and before you know it, both are gone.
“We wanted to write a big album,” Moore explains of Pollen in a press release, continuing:
…something suitable for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of refrains with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, focusing on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward.
To avoid falling back into old habits, we used instruments and equipment that were new to us. We work alone and Patrick engineers. The sounds he creates are as fundamental as any part he writes. We resist the urge to overedit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums which were more of a wall of sound, we make a point of not overwhelming my voice with a dense mix.
We named the album Pollen. It’s about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. This is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. He strives to stay in the moment without falling into fear. It’s about how I can be destroyed by one tiny thing.
“A North American tour around the arrival of Pollen will be announced soon,” according to a press release.
Check “A night with the valet» and a tennis performance in 2012 from Dough archives below, and find the details of Pollen and the group’s next tour dates back further.
Pollen Art:
Pollen Track list:
01. Doors prohibited
02. Gloriette
03. Let’s make a mistake tonight
04. A night with the valet
05. Pollen Song
06. Hotel valet
07. Paper
08. Gibraltar
09. I have never been wrong
10. Pillow for a cloud
Tennis 2023 tour dates:
FEBRUARY
14-15 – London, United Kingdom @ Islington Music Hall
March
24 – Atlanta, Georgia @ The Eastern
25 – Nashville, Tennessee at the Brooklyn Bowl
27 – Raleigh, North Carolina @ The Ritz
29-30 – Washington, DC at 9:30 a.m. Club
31 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania @ The Fillmore
April
01 – New York, New York @ Beacon Theater
03 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
04 – Homer, NY @ Arts Center
05 – Toronto, ON @ History
07 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
08 – Minneapolis, Minnesota @ First Avenue
10 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin @Turner Hall
11 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
12 – Lawrence, Kansas @ Liberty Hall
14 – Denver, CO @ Mission
15 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen
16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
18 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
20 – Vancouver, British Columbia @ Vogue Theater
21 – Seattle, Washington @Paramount
22 – Portland, Oregon @ Crystal Ballroom
24 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theater
25 – Sacramento, California @ Ace of Spades
26 – Oakland, California @ Fox Theater
28 – Los Angeles, California @ Palladium
29 – San Diego, California @ Humphrey’s
Can
2 – Phoenix, Arizona @ The Van Buren
4 – Austin, Texas @ ACL Live
5 – Houston, Texas @ Warehouse
6 – Dallas, Texas @ South Side
