Swimmer - Tennis

Swimmer - Tennis

14 February 2020 - Mutually Detrimental

The duo of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley’s fifth album is representative of their synthesizer-filled dreamy 70s pop sound. It captures the fantasy-like crests of love while diving into the troughs of its disappointment. With Moore’s singing, the listener rides across the sea through all kinds of waters. There is agony, but it’s not too harsh. There is exuberance, but the instrumentation keeps it at bay. In the end, we’re left looking out to the ocean knowing that almost none of it is under our control.

I’ll Haunt You

Synthesizer-driven cascades accompanied by piano lead the listener into this declaration of everlasting love. Moore dreamily sings about how she’s been drawn so close to a lover for so many days, “drawn to you/like a horizon,” every time the sun sets. Percussion accents how much time has passed when Moore sings “I can tell I’ve been getting [older].” This same pattern returns when she asks, “How long can we stay like this?” The declarative lines that follow arrive at the song’s theme: “I will haunt you when I’m gone.”

Need Your Love

This track jumps around rhythmically. It’s frantic in the beginning, wanting to shout at someone and declare emotions that pop around like the drum set’s beat. How could she make it any clearer? The frustration builds and she shouts, “I hope you’re happy/I hope you’re pleased.” Suddenly, she falls back and realizes why she lets herself get so frustrated. It’s the need for this love, despite its rumblings, that make it so agonizing that she can’t escape. In the bridge, Moore’s singing echoes the line “baby you’ve got more poison than sugar,” but again the band slows down to unleash another desperate chorus. No one needs to be struck by lightning, but Moore feels that the jolt is absolutely worth it. This track grooves, aches, and shakes. It’s frustrated and satisfied all at once.

How to Forgive

The best track of this album belongs to “How to Forgive”. Its lyrics describe a tense relationship full of misunderstanding and harm. And yet the rhythm section and synthesizers create a steady pulse behind the scenes. Is it a racing heartbeat, anxious to let someone you care about know how they hurt you? The chorus shouts out while trying to stay mellow. It’s like the thoughts Moore wants to scream but chooses to hold back to keep the status quo. Why not just scream it out? “I’ve got my reasons,” she sings. The bridge is aching, noting that “it’s so hard to let it go/all the worries, they keep coming back.” So much is troubling Moore and she can’t just drop it. But is it worth making a fuss over? The second chorus painfully admits so.

Runner

You can’t catch a runner by walking. In this track, Moore sings about making sacrifices to “make the most of us.” She wants to follow this person through a desert. If they just slow down, everything will be worth it. In Moore’s falsetto we hear a plea to someone that has captured her so strongly. Her desire to catch up with them is so strong, she notices “every little bead of sweat” so frequently. In the bridge, a synthesizer blares single notes like an eerie alarm. The runner is going to “leave [her] in a cloud of dust/leveled in a burning heat.” And yet, Moore can only think about “every little bead of sweat” it takes to catch the runner.

Echoes

Reaching back to a West Coast indie rock sound, Moore waltzes in her mind trying to remain content over her thoughts. The song looks out into the ocean and mourns a life that’s floated away into the sunset. Now, Moore must “go where the sun isn’t shining.” All of a sudden, things are falling apart in paradise. It’s the sunny setting but difficult circumstances that make the contradiction so stark. Moore is trying to stay calm among the disappointment echoing in her mind. We hear these echoes in the multiple guitars clanging along, layered over each other. When all the rhythms join together at the end, they remind Moore that she “won’t be going down stoically”; the echoes are so loud, she must give in and listen.

Swimmer

Tennis create a nostalgic sound with an arpeggiating guitar line over a slower pulse. It matches Moore’s aching voice that recites mournful lyrics. There is an absence here. Someone made promises that they can no longer keep. She notes “tourists as they flock to the sea/getting in the water like it’s nothing,” showing how life seems to move on without care for her pain. Those summers “planned for me/emptied into the sea,” all gone to waste. The third verse strikes hardest when Moore notes “I’d take up swimming” to fit into this person’s plans. In the bridge, Moore decides to take care of herself where she knows best: “One stroke at a time/on my way/back to land/it’s better for me/with my feet/in the sand.” She was willing to become a swimmer, but there’s no point in going to the sea anymore.

Tender as a Tomb

Another West Coast indie vibe from the guitar that dances behind the lyrics. Moore’s singing goes back and forth with the rhythm section until she finally grabs the instruments to dance with her at the chorus. It’s the exhilaration from her infatuation that lets her sway without a care: her footsteps bounce around a concrete that’s “blistering in June” and “tender as a tomb.” It’s simple, but it’s as adorable as one feels when their heart is full.  

Late Night

Following the earlier 70s dream pop sound, Tennis roll back to a reflective piece. Before reaching any conclusions, the thoughts start softly. After all, Moore knows “it [takes] such a long time/to make up my own mind.” Attempting to manipulate things that are not in your control takes “a toll on [her] health.” Moore uses a biblical reference to describe the pain of following someone that ultimately leaves her alone. Though she shares Mary Magdalene's suffering, she herself is not a saint for having followed this person. In this whirlwind, Moore finally reaches some resolution. She sets herself free when she sails on her own: “I am the master of my ship/my ship the master of the sea…I think I’m finally feeling free/for the first time.”

Matrimony II

The final track follows up on the similarly titled “Matrimony” from the previous album Love Conditionally. Love can be so comfortable with the right person; so comfortable that the mysteries of life lose their concern. The subjects have been in their own orbit, lost solely in the present. No concern about wedding vows or “the gentle pull of gravity/that’s being unto death.” Only the “tenderness/with every moment left.” Like silk curtains protecting the couple, the piano and guitar are rich and flowing. An orchestral arrangement builds with each verse and meanders with the lyrics. At the chorus, Moore’s tone is as strong as her intention in this relationship: “I could never find something better/I even changed my name.”