Face Down in The Garden is the seventh and final album from Denver-based husband-and-wife indie pop duo Tennis. After 15 years and countless bangers under their belt, it seems Alaina and Patrick deem it time to step away from the court. Bittersweet as it is, rarely do we see bands retire on such a high note. Face Down in the Garden is a dignified final breath for Tennis, and a testament to their proclivity for excellent songwriting and masterful execution.
As Alaina put it in her interview with FADER:
After finishing Face Down In The Garden, it became clear that we had said everything we wanted to say.
When asked how she felt the Tennis project helped her grow as an artist:
On a personal level, we have been growing as songwriters, but I finally at the first point in my life felt like I was maybe stagnating. It was feeling a bit like a groundhog day of this album cycle repeating over and over and Patrick and I started to ask ourselves, how long do we want to do this for? Because it's the only thing we know how to do or do I want to do it forever until the quality of our records are going down and we've aged out and we're clinging desperately to some wisp of what we had? We don't ever want to go even one inch that direction.
Their aptitude for self-reflection is something I adore about Tennis—you'll hear it a lot in their songwriting, both on this album and the rest of their discography. Navigating your growth as an artist is difficult enough, and I'd imagine your band being so intertwined with your relationship with your husband would hardly make it easier. I don't doubt they could probably pump out a few more solid albums—and I'd listen to all of it—but I'd be remiss if I didn't admit they'd probably need some course-correction if they'd ever wanna hit the same heights they did with 2020's Swimmer.
If 2023's Pollen was an indication of the next chapter in the duo's sound, then Face Down in the Garden represents somewhat of a continuation, but also a marriage of it to their older stuff. Think introspective indie rock with a side of uber-catchy shimmering synth pop. Apparently during the writing many of the songs, they turned to some of their earliest demos for inspiration:
We've always been interested in unconventional song structures, and you can hear that in our first demos. ... Now I feel like we achieve it in a more sophisticated and elegant way. For example, on our new record the opening song “At the Apartment,” there's basically no chorus and no verse. It's a very unique structure, but I don't feel like it loses you. I'm really proud to have been able to do that. I can put these records side by side, and I hear so much growth as a writer, as a singer, as a lyricist. I look back on my younger self with a lot of love and grace now and I'm like, young Alaina was just looking for it and I really am proud of where I landed on the other side.
Tracks like Always The Same and I Can Only Describe You also seem to take some inspiration from their earlier stuff, with their sun-drenched guitar riffs and more mellowed-out choruses. The former has quickly become one of my favorites on the albums, I think the echoey, spaced-out production suits Alaina's vocals super well—reminded me of Tokyo Tea Room, another band I hold in very high regard.
Speaking of vocals, one common thread across this album that I enjoyed a lot were the various harmonies in the choruses of tracks like At The Wedding, Through the Mirror, and (to a more subtle extent) 12 Blown Tires. In At The Wedding especially, the "haaair dooooown" harmony at the beginning of the chorus always gets me; I love it so much. I'm not enough of a music nerd to explain what that kind of sound is called but it really just itches my brain the right way, that's all I can say.
Outside of these facets, however, Face Down in The Garden is simply an exceedingly well-produced album. That's something that can be said for any Tennis album, honestly. By the will of God, Patrick cannot miss. Specifically the percussion and basslines, too; they always just hit perfectly. Compared to their earlier works, it's easy to see how they've matured in their production—it's just so crisp. This album especially is worth listening to with headphones that offer a lot of clarity, hearing the low-end unimpeded is a very rewarding experience.
In terms of the objective heights of this album,
