Get ready for a very quick game of Tennis. The Denver indie-pop husband-and-wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore return today (November 15) with a sly new track called “One Night with the Valet,” and it’s a quick-hit lounge bop that clocks in at a robust 113 seconds. It’s also the first taste of Tennis’ forthcoming album POLLEN, the follow-up to 2020’s acclaimed SWIMMER, set for release February 10 on the band’s own Mutually Detrimental label. Here’s what Moore has to say about it:
“We wanted to write a big album,” Moore says. “something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward. To keep ourselves from falling into old habits, we used instruments and gear that are new to us. We work alone and Patrick engineers. The sounds he creates are as foundational as any part he writes. We resist the urge to over edit or do too many takes. Unlike previous albums which have been more wall of sound, we make a point not to overpower my voice with a dense mix.”
Moore adds: “We named the album POLLEN. It is about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. It is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. It is striving to remain in a moment without slipping into dread. It is about the way I can be undone by a very small thing.”
Get into “One Night with the Valet” below.