★★★★★
The oddly-named indie pop band Tennis sends their listeners bouncing up and down with the catchy beats on its new album, Young & Old.
The first track “It All Feels the Same” brings in a tambourine, electric guitar, synthesizer and drum kit to create a sound that reverberates off the eardrums of the listener with a soft thump.
“Origins” follows strongly with excellent vocals by singer Alaina Moore, whose cooing voice contrasts with the surrounding drumbeats and well-implemented strumming of Moore’s husband Patrick Riley on electric guitar.
“Petition” is reminiscent of an earlier era in pop music, sounding like something that could have been produced by The Beach Boys. The track features a prominent synthesizer along with the usual drumbeats and electric guitar.
“High Road” makes greater use of the drums than in preceding songs. Riley creates a dynamic strumming sound at intervals throughout and the drumbeat maintains a consistent sound to emphasize the guitar. As one of the strongest tracks on the LP, “High Road” brings into play the band’s strong musicianship.
The track “Take Me to Heaven” departs from Moore’s sound earlier in the album. Her vocals are clearer and easy to discern from the music, like in more traditional pop; however, they still click with the song poetically just as they did in previous songs. The synthesizer remains distant, making this track stand out. While likely not the strongest track on the album it is the most unique.
The final track “Never to Part” sees Moore’s return to obscure, difficult to understand lyrics. She starts off the track with synthesizer beats soon joined by Riley’s guitar. Eventually the drums join in and the album comes to a close. The standard album is followed by two bonus tracks, which neither disappoint nor take away from the strength of the overall album.