Review: Tennis - 'Cape Dory'

Cape Dory, out today on Fat Possum Records

as seen in the Daily Nebraskan
Denver band Tennis has never made sailing sound so easy on the ear.

Husband and wife Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore's debut album "Cape Dory," out today, stands as a documentation of an eight-month sailing trip they took along the Atlantic coast.

"It was very fortuitous," said Riley in an interview with the Daily Nebraskan last October. "Alaina and I didn't really know that our styles of play would go together so well."

And "go together" they do.

With Moore singing and playing keys and Riley on the guitar, Tennis presents their sound compiled of velvety female vocals, droning keyboard compositions and surfy guitar reverberation, leaving no one high and dry. 


Beginning with "Take Me Somewhere," the track is a great representation of the album as a whole, exhibiting both slow and fast tempos.

On "Long Boat Pass," Moore's vocal performance positions itself as the most wholesome of the album with her voice transcending her age and generation alike.

The LP reaches an ideal midpoint with the slower-tempoed "Bimini Bay," with lyrics telling of psychologically being lost at sea.

Not only does this album place the listener in Riley and Moore's various experiences at sea, but with songs like "Pigeon" and "Seafarer," you also get pleasantly washed away in the couple's relationship.

Key songs include title track "Cape Dory" and "South Carolina," where you can hear Moore singing her best wordless vocalizations.

I can't argue that tracks like "Marathon" and "Baltimore," released as demo versions last year, are also as enjoyable.

Riley was right when he said in the October interview that the re-recorded versions of these tracks for the album "actually sound quite a bit different." They're less noisy sounding and fit well in the package of the album itself.

I have to say, "Cape Dory" carried me away. If you didn't get the chance to see Tennis yet, they're coming to the Slowdown in Omaha again on Feb. 18 on their headlining tour in support of the album.

Maybe they'll carry you away, too.