So overwhelmingly ATP are Tennis that you can almost sense the insistent, omnipresent, and indeed endless pinging of penny-pushers; the quaking of chalets to Sunn O))) and Shellac records barely muffled by wafer-like walls of pastel-shaded plaster; the trembling of knees jutting out from beneath the all-too-illusive Redcoated contingent beneath all they record. Fitting then that Young & Old, the Denver-based trio's sophomore long-player should be beached on British shores by none other than ATP Recordings...
Centred around the husband-and-wife pairing of terrifically adroit guitarist Patrick Riley and the majestic Alaina Moore, a candyfloss-haired vocalist of equally candied voice – who also just so happens to emit particularly dreamy keyboard lines from knackered ebonies and ivories – they collide to birth a particularly intriguing prospect, and one that's now also proving to be quite exceptional. Their debut, Cape Dory, was based upon maritime odysseys and naval tumbles across the seven seas, and came across as a light, airy, and ultimately refreshing effort that unfortunately always felt a little lacking in substance. This time round however the Denverites have hooked a record that's veritably awash with fully-fleshed substance, and it's a substance that's worth soaking in 'til left stupefied in a gloriously sedate state.
First up is the delicate It All Feels The Same, a dainty ballad of a thing that gently rocks between major and minor keys, buoyed all the while by an underlying sense of melancholia as Moore bleats of taking "a train to you". Whilst their seagoing vessel may now be moored and stored safely in some landlocked realm, Tennis still send the heart into a helpless flutter at a racy rate of knots and never is this more inescapably effectuated than on the flittering, shimmering doo-wop of lead single Origins. It's the sort of nostalgia-doused sass Phil Spector would fees up to any uncommitted crime for purely to facilitate a solitary listen. Travelling is yet more fleet of foot and flighty still as it whooshes with a childish carefree abandon, while Petition marries a Cat Power-ed, piano-based plod with Feist-y layers of meticulously honeyed harmony. Robin meanwhile carries the quirky surf of squirmish last dance à la Jared and Jerusha Hess motion picture, prior to exploding in crackling keys plucked from the Teen Dreams of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand.
As with anything so stuffed with serotonin and blithe whimsy, Young & Old begins to sag a little in its dying moments like the bags beneath eyes all around Minehead come Monday, albeit without ever getting 'Old' as it were: the schmaltz and schmooze of Dreaming ought to come slathered in warnings averting to its exceedingly high and regrettably sickly sugar content and even the wondrous cascading keys of Take Me to Heaven can't regain much holy spirit from its slushy predictability. However as second serves go, Young & Old is strong enough to take aback even the most muscular and emotionally unflinching of receiving listeners.
