Husband and wife partnerships in the music industry are relatively rare, so firstly let’s hear it for Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, who as Tennis have managed to negotiate the public and doubtless private complications of that set up for more than a decade.
Pollen is their sixth album and on it the pair are also very happy to let us know that their mutual flame is still burning brightly. This affirmation comes via not one, but two songs, firstly Hotel Valet and then with even more specifictity One Night with The Valet, both that deal with the circumstances of their first meeting. Neither they or the rest of their companions are formula breaking sonically though, with the pair having shifted away from the indie pop of early albums Young & Old and Ritual In Repeat.
The current Tennis set up however is mostly an amalgam of grown up soul, disco and dream pop, a formula which admittedly they pack away on Glorietta and Never Been Wrong, the latter a 90’s alt-rocker which strays close to Ladyhawke territory. By contrast there is an air of Laurel Canyon mystery to Pollen Song, but any interest generated is passing. Overall a cynical listener might wonder if some wedded un-bliss might add a little more grit and grain to a dynamic which offers little by way of reward for repeat exposure.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 