‘Having swapped the lulling seas for dry land, Tennis’ journey from Cape Dory through to Young & Old was smoother than the verdant blades to coat Centre Court, primarily as their lustrous indie pop carries enough slight idiosyncrasies to birth infinite variations on a theme that has, thus far, proven thoroughly fun. For we mere landlubbers it was nigh on impossible to not be swept away by their sun-soused harmonies and song folly in the key of gentle melancholia, and in that respect absolutely diddly-squat has changed as they cover Television’s berceuse-styled Marquee Moon standout, Guiding Light. Then, Tom Verlaine’s androgynous tenor brought softness to the fuzzy ’70s strings entangled beyond. Now, Alaina Moore’s peerless trill brings a sharp bite to the slushy rock of hubby Patrick Riley on what is one of my favourite covers since the couple brought The Zombies’ Tell Her No back from the dead of impenetrably dusted 12” collections.’
Posts tagged Tennis.
‘Jingles are fairly repugnant to the ears. Always have been; always will be. Yet similarly routinely, jangle tends to sound as effervescent now as it did yonks back when The Popguns were still firing off seductive charmers left, right, and bloody centre. Ah, The Popguns. Swoon. Best save some of that affection for Hills, however: hailing from over the Woodland Hills and far away, the L.A. five-piece combine the cutesy smacks of atypical seafarers Tennis with the scatty contentment of Bethany Cosentino’s cruddy early demos to emit a wistful, if decidedly estival slo-surf. So if you’re currently feeling crippled by a maudlin sense of sentimentality for the summer just done and require aural soothing then the Hills LP is one worth clambering aboard. For beyond the overly mawkish It’s Okay, it’s brighter than many an August horizon: the miscellaneous looped reverbs of the seemingly Real Estate-inspired instrumentals Offshore and Downstream; the raw bluesy wash of Back Again; the uptempo cruise to Let’s Swim. Alisa Cacho-Sousa et al. even cut loose on the distortion-smeared gumption of Take You There. Although it’s the light rock and creaky roll to I’ve Been Away that could hush a babe in a manger violently swung by Lucifer himself, such is its lulling sway. Stream away.’
I’ll Be Your Mirror returned to northernmost London reach, boasting a quintessentially outré rundown which took in everything from thrash metal heralds (Slayer), sludge pukers (Sleep), sadcore progenitors (Codeine) and cutesy pop pairings (Tennis and to a substantially lesser degree, the Tall Firs). To quote pretty much every bloody band on the bill, “Thanks Barry; Deborah.” For finer weekends may now be few and far between…
Review: Friday, 25th May / Saturday, 26th May / Sunday, 27th May.
Gallery: Friday, 25th May / Saturday, 26th May / Sunday, 27th May.
