Tennis – Face Down in the Garden Review

Tennis has reached the end of its creative road. The husband-and-wife duo has called time on their work together under this name, and Face Down in the Garden serves the last notes. No time for grieving. Nine songs are still nine songs. There is life in Tennis yet, enough petrol to get us across the finish line with a satisfying conclusion to a duo that has spanned a decade and created much of worth. Just listen to the last album, Pollen, for an example of their thrills. Face Down in the Garden is a floaty, wonderful goodbye from the group which serves not just as a surprise, but a well-earned and satisfying farewell. Make no mistake, this is goodbye. Tennis knows they can end on a creative peak, and choose to. They have not run out of road, but are satisfied with the view of where they stop.  

Face Down in the Garden is a tremendously confident piece of work. The duo sounds assured in their choice and never lets it overwhelm the purpose of their songs. A strong start with At the Apartment, which serves as a cool and breezy mood setter before the dominant, soft-synth tones of Weight of Desire. Tennis observes the regret and poor decisions of the past not with a longing to have a do-over, but with an acceptance for what has changed, a look at the future and how to fix it. The weight of desire touches everyone, and musicians have long been trying to determine what it means for them. Perhaps the reason Tennis has come to the end of their road is because they understand what desire can do, what there is to be done with it is expressed so clearly, with instrumental thrills backing it, on Weight of Desire. Lived-in moments for At the Wedding make all the difference, with its cool piano strokes and assured instrumental sound making all the difference for Tennis in these early moments.  

Dream-like occasions are what separates Tennis from the rest of the art-rock pack. Anyone can write of the day ahead, the past behind them, but few can construct a fictitious or imagined moment of life with such detail. I Can Only Describe You highlights this best of all. Face Down in the Garden may utilise a floaty tone the whole way through, but it is solid with its meaning and intent. This is the warmth we will miss when the duo is gone. Through the Mirror is a fine blur of their gentle and forthright tone, the back-and-forth Tennis maintains with this piece is nothing short of fantastic. An inevitably emotional last moment for the duo, but even without the retirement of the name, there is still a beauty present in Face Down in the Garden, which the group has consistently captured on previous releases.

Tennis knew this would be their final bow long before the release was announced; that much is clear from the final song, In Love (Release the Doves). A hearty and exciting experience which calls for the end. No tears for the end. Tennis does well to mould a short and sincere project with Face Down in the Garden. Their homegrown examples of love and faith, of how to respond to moments of struggle, is effective. Crucially, too, it is honest. Delightful instrumental skill from the duo creates the ever-needed, often present, floaty feel. Muffled percussion and interjecting voices on album closer In Love (Release the Doves) is just one of the multitude of moments of quality to be found on Face Down in the Garden. Most musicians would kill for an end to their careers as well-rounded as this. Tennis bows out in style.