8.4/10
Favorite Track: "Need Your Love" Least Favorite Track: "Matrimony II"
On the third track of Indie-Pop duo Tennis’ 5th studio album Swimmer, vocalist Alaina Moore sings “How could I disguise the way that I’m feeling?/I got my reasons, I could give you a million”, a lyric that somehow perfectly syncs up with the sheer joy this album brings me. The cutely written but emotionally mature standpoints of Alaina’s lyrics make the album feel supremely personal, offset with the fantastic pop production from her husband Patrick Riley. The album in question, 2020’s Swimmer, creates such an infectiously fun, lusciously textured, and compositionally well-rounded experience which I walk away from increasingly impressed with every listen.
Tennis, the sport the duo is named after, is naturally a game of back and forth, a sentiment that is on full display on this record. There is not a single point in Swimmer’s thirty minute run time that Alaina and Patrick aren’t trading their talents back and forth, borrowing from each other, and this is on display even more considering the collaborative writing process the duo has. In an interview with Interview Magazine, Alaina talked about utilizing that process after the passing of Patrick’s father. In the wake of his death, they decided to retreat to a boat and write, secluded from the outside world to complete the album. Alaina also mentions in the interview that she had set a goal for herself to make her lyrics more grounded in their storytelling power. I believe this attempt is well displayed on Swimmer. To an extent, I find it to be the album’s best trait, as Alaina’s storytelling is compelling and succinct but well spoken.
Take, for example, the second track “Need Your Love”, my personal favorite on the record. This song is all about being consistently pulled back into a cycle of toxic love, detailed by Alaina’s painfully heartsick lyrics. The tone is quite upbeat despite the thematic gloominess of needing someone’s love like “a bolt of lightning from the sky above”, likening their accompaniment to poison. The title track “Swimmer” sees Alaina taking it to a place more somber, painting a vivid picture of her and her husband scattering the ashes of Patrick’s late father on a dimly moonlit beach. The track is slow, gorgeous, heart-wrenching, and one of the best lyrical performances on Swimmer.
The instrumentation on the record reminds me of a lot of Dream-Pop acts like Beach House or Cocteau Twins with a bit of an early eighties twist. The instrumental mixes are heavily dominated by lush guitars and very succinct and punchy drums, most prominent on tracks like the slightly swung, sticky-sweet “How To Forgive” and the aforementioned “Need Your Love”. There are occasionally some points where the instrumentals manage to feel a bit more skeletal than I would like them to be, and it ends up being a bit of a detriment to tracks like “Echoes” or “Matrimony II”.
When I take a step back from the specifics of Swimmer, however, I consistently find myself impressed with the impeccable melody work on nearly every individual track. Alaina’s voice has a very breathy, airish quality to it that is perfectly complemented by the light, synth-driven production. “Echoes” and “Tender as a Tomb” are two songs that I have a few select issues with, but I still can’t deny the great melodies and ideas behind them, even if they ultimately end up feeling a tad underwritten in my view. The only track on Swimmer that I genuinely don’t enjoy as a whole is “Matrimony II”, mainly for the reasons mentioned before. These minimal issues are heavily offset by some of the best pop songwriting and most luscious production I have heard in 2020.
At the end of the day, Swimmer is just a really great pop album. Despite a few small flaws, there are so many things within this record to love, and it is wrapped in such a small, adorable, and accessible package that I have continuously come back to it throughout the year. “Need Your Love” and “How To Forgive” are also easily some of my favorite singles of 2020, and I think anyone who listens to this album will immediately hear why. Not only are the tunes on the record great, but the fact that this album was released on Valentine’s Day makes it even more likeable, as Alaina and Patrick’s love for each other shines through in a really infectious way. This close, lovingly tender sentiment behind the quaint, lovesick vignettes of Swimmer allows this record to weasel its way into a small corner of your heart and make itself right at home with ease.
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