Tennis: TAS and WFUV In Session
Tennis' 2011 debut album, Cape Dory, unfolded as a testament to Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley's love of sailing, but the couple hit choppy waters when planning their sophomore album.
Determined to break from the nautical theme of their first record, the duo — now a trio with the addition of drummer James Barone — recruited the Black Keys' Patrick Carney as producer to shake up their process. The result is 2012's breezy Young and Old, set firmly on dry land and inspired in part by Moore's exploration of poetry; the album's title was drawn from a Yeats poem.
Tennis kick off a European tour on May 23 in Oxford, England, but they'll return Stateside in August for a road trip with Sharon Van Etten.
The band recently visited WFUV and The Alternate Side's Studio A. Listen to the session now in the WFUV archives and below, check out highlights of Tennis' interview and watch videos of the band's live performance.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpJeAdnWN8E]
Alisa Ali: I understand that Patrick, you and James [Barone] went to school together?
Patrick Riley: Yeah, we kind of grew up together in one way or another. He’s a few years older than me but we went to the same high school and actually ended up going to the same college and studying the same thing.
Alisa: But you dropped out.
Patrick: I did drop out. I was the kid who lost ambition and started studying philosophy and became a misanthrope.
Alisa: But then it came back to you.
Patrick: Exactly, I’m full circle now.
Alisa: I heard you guys also worked with [the Black Keys'] Patrick Carney on producing the new record. I know you were a little anti-producer, but you brought a producer in for the second one. Why?
Alaina Moore: Well, there were a couple of different [reasons]. One, we were starting to feel like we were getting into a bit of a rut as far as arrangements were going. Not songwriting; the melodies were there and the songs were coming quite easily, but we were having regular disagreements about when a chorus should arrive and how many times we should do it. Things like that. We felt pretty divided about it. Patrick has a lot of conviction about choruses (laughs).
Anyway, that was our first inkling that a producer who we trusted would be very helpful to help us open up and try out new arrangements without feeling that we were compromising anything that we’d want out of a song. That was the first thing that made us seek him out. It ended up being a very necessary thing. I don’t think we would have had enough of a change in the studio, mostly do to our own limitations. We do certain things well and we feel really comfortable with that. We stick with that and we don’t take any risks. We don’t want to find outselves in that place.
Alisa: There are very different sounds on this record, but at the same time, it does maintain your overall sound. What specific changes did [Patrick Carney] bring to the process for you?
Patrick: I think sonically he did a few things, but more importantly, he pushed us to write new parts even if we didn’t want to write new parts. We came to him with a set of demos that, to us, were complete and didn’t need to be changed at all.
Alisa: That’s funny because originally you brought him in to decide ….
Alaina: Well, arrangements. We’re talking about chord progressions this time. He would literally be like, “Rewrite that piano part.” And we’d say, “Oh, but we love it!”
Patrick: He would push us to explore new territory, whether or not we wanted to see new territory. By doing that, we ended up finding parts of songs that ended up being changed subtly that sound a lot better to us. We’re really happy with the album because he pushed us into that new area.
Alaina: For the most part, he mixed the new record too. When we got the final mixes back from him, it sounded very different. I feel like that was one of the places where he really left his mark. He mixed my voice in ways that we’d never tried before and he added a lot of character and manipulated a lot of sounds. [Like the] organ bassline in the chorus of “Origins"; we already had this really weird sound, but when it came back from him mixing it, he made it 20 times weirder. A lot of people can’t even tell what instrument created that sound. I feel like this was his way of adding his own style and taste to it. We were really happy with what he did.
Alisa: I also feel you’re singing a little different on this record too.
Alaina: I don’t want to say this and jinx myself, but I think I’m getting better at singing. I had sang a little growing up, but it’s been years since I cared or tried. I never sang so seriously before. I actually discovered that when we first went on tour with Cape Dory, I could hardly sing half of those songs, partly because Patrick would write them in whatever key signature he fancied and hates transposing them. He loves the way it will sound. So I was forced to sing out of my range which was extremely small anyway at the time. It’s been about a year now and I feel more comfortable. I’m still figuring out what I can do with my voice. It was fun to sing this time and feel more confident and really enjoy my time in the studio as opposed to pure stress.
Alisa: I suppose it was daunting to write for this second record. You are a band which grew up in the spotlight; you didn’t have the chance to ease into it.
Alaina: Definitely. We feel we had a lot to prove to ourselves more than anything. Mostly we needed to prove to ourselves whether it would be worth continuing with this lifestyle that requires a lot of sacrifice and effort. More than I ever would have known. If I’d known when I was a little kid … I feel like every child goes through the phase of wanting to be in a band or a rock star. If anyone had made it clear how completely agonizing it is, I don’t think I would have dreamed about it so much. I think we demonstrated to ourselves that there’s more music left in us and we still really enjoy this.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG80svPdcYo]
Alisa: I understand that “Origins” was inspired lyrically by a poem that you read?
Alaina: Yes, between writing Cape Dory and Young and Old, I spent a lot of time reading poetry because it wasn’t something that I’d never really been into before. It’s an extremely foreign medium to me that is very challenging, working with the limitations of syllables and vowel sounds and I also prefer that lyrics not distract from the melodies which is why I gravitate towards the pure vowel sounds in general. I came across this poem, [William Butler Yeats'] “A Woman Young and Old” and it was the first time I’d found a poem that I connected to and I cared about. I loved the way it was structured, chronologically. A woman reflects on her life from youth until old age and her perspective changes, the tone changes. I feel like i had this very same experience with my own life regarding music and my relationship with Patrick and what I thought I wanted for my future. I felt I was experiencing this maturation of what I wanted in the last year because it’s been so dramatic: a lot of changes and ups and downs for us. So I decided to structure each song on the record to emulate that idea. We called the album Young and Old.
Alisa: Patrick are you into poetry as well?
Patrick: I probably should be saying yes — I was an English major as well as a philosophy major and I focused in poetry — but I feel that there’s a head space you have to be in to really appreciate and understand poetry. Unfortunately, our lives are too crazy right now for me to take that in.
Alaina: I thnk he’s a much better poet than me.
Patrick: I highly doubt that.
Alaina: You’re really good! But we just agreed that I’d always write the lyrics since I’m the one who has to sing them every night.
Alisa: Do you talk about the lyrics?
Patrick: Really, the only thing I add is my perspective of the lyrics. I think a lot of people real Alaina’s lyrics and assume they’re about me. They’re not. But the only input I ever give Alaina is sometimes I’ll say, “Hey, that could be understood as talking about me. I know it’s not about me, but everyone will think it is and I’d appreciate it if you changed it a little bit!”
Alisa: Have you ever thought about writing?
Patrick: It’s tough. I don’t know if I have the confidence to put myself out there like that. I did when I was younger, but not anymore.
Alaina: He’s a good writer but he really will not sing. He refuses to. I don’t even know if he can or not. That affects your ability to write lyrics.
Patrick: I really can’t.
Alisa: I understand that, Alaina, the way that you write is that you take something deeply personal and then you try to make it more and more vague.
Alaina: I do. I start with something very specific and then I abstract it a little bit, honestly, so that it won’t affect me nearly so much when someone completely misconstrues it. I decide how much of myself I want to put on the line.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-_89HVRd0g]
Alisa: When I said earlier that you were singing a bit different, I was thinking specifically of this song. It has a little bit of an R&B feel to it which was not present on the last album at all.
Alaina: Absolutely. It’s actually my first love, as far as music goes. I’d probably listen to Beyoncé all day, honestly.
