After releasing their final studio album in April, Face Down In The Garden, acclaimed indie-pop duo Tennis share their last release. Neutral Poetry: First Recordings, Unreleased Demos 2009-2010 is a new EP of previously unheard tracks from the very beginning of their artistic career.
The eight-song collection perfectly bookends their time as a band, bringing it all back to where it first began. The EP includes early versions of such fan favorites as “Cape Dory,” “Marathon,” “South Carolina,” “Baltimore,” and “Pigeon,” along with exclusive demo recordings of the never-before-available songs, “Key Largo,” “April and It’s Still Snowing,” and “One Day This Will Be a Good Songgg” – stream it here.
Tennis announced the news of their indefinite hiatus mid-April with the release of the single “12 Blown Tires” ahead of Face Down In The Garden. Met with an outpouring of love over the bittersweet news, the duo’s Alaina Moore shed additional light on the duo’s decision:
“When we recorded ’12 Blown Tires’, I had the sense of distilling the past 15 years into four minutes of music. It felt like the end of something, though I wasn’t sure what. Patrick and I spent most of our 20s and all of our 30s focused on Tennis. It has been the most joyous, bewildering, challenging, and humbling experience. After finishing Face Down In The Garden, it became clear that we had said everything we wanted to say and achieved everything we wanted to achieve with our band. This will be our last studio album, at least in this configuration as Tennis. We are ready to pursue other creative projects and to make space in our lives for new things. In that light, the upcoming tour feels more poignant, like a concluding thought. These two kids from Denver who only ever dreamed of playing a few house shows are very fulfilled. Perhaps we’ll see you on the road. As always, thank you.”
Tennis will both celebrate this moment in time and say farewell to fans with a wide-ranging North American headline tour beginning tonight at Las Vegas, NV’s Swan Dive and then traveling into early September. Throughout the tour, they will be supported by an array of talent including Husbands, Billie Marten, Cults, Real Estate and Hovvdy. Along the way, they will also make festival stops at Kilby Block Party and Bumbershoot before heading to London for a show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on October 23.