Indie rock duo Tennis are hanging up their rackets.
The news arrives as Tennis gear up to release their seventh and final studio album, Face Down in the Garden, which will arrive on April 25th via their label Mutually Detrimental. Ahead of the LP, they’ve also shared the last of its singles: “12 Blown Tires.”
Comprised of husband and wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, Tennis formed in 2010 in Denver, Colorado. They’ve offered six studio albums so far, toured with Spoon, The Shins, and HAIM, collaborated with the show Rick and Morty, and played festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. To commemorate their journey as Tennis, they’re also offering a new EP, Neutral Poetry: First Recordings, Unreleased Demos 2009-2010. The new EP serves as a collection of previously unheard tracks from the very beginning of their career, and arrives on May 16th.
With “12 Blown Tires” and the announcement of their breakup, Tennis have offered a lengthy statement: “On a cross-country drive at the end of tour, our van and trailer blew four tires in quick succession,” Moore says. “That particular stretch of highway was a tire graveyard. I counted the shredded remains of twelve tires from where we sat on the side of the road, swapping out our last spare. Our bad luck was heavily contrasted by the good night we’d just had in Houston. The highs and lows of touring are unnatural, disorienting. On the shoulder of I-40, I began writing the lyrics to ’12 Blown Tires.’ It is a constellation of memories from the road, and of our marriage, two endeavors that are completely, hopelessly entangled.
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When we recorded ’12 Blown Tires’ a few months later, 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.”
As expected, “12 Blown Tires” is a touching, sentimental offering from Tennis. “No flower withers/ No flower withers in your hand, in your hand,” Moore sings over trotting drums and reverb-ridden guitars. Though Moore doesn’t deviate too much from the song’s steady melody, the instrumentals beneath her grow in power and scope throughout the track. Watch the video for “12 Blown Tires” below.
Tennis will be closing out their journey with a final farewell North American tour, which kicks off in Las Vegas on May 16th (the day of Neutral Poetry’s release). After playing Utah’s Kilby Block Party, they’ll hit cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Vancouver, and many more throughout the summer. They’ll play their final show in Saratoga, California on September 4th; see their full list of tour dates below and get tickets here.
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Tennis 2025 Tour Dates:
05/16 — Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive
05/17 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
05/18 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/21 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
05/23 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
05/24 — Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI Annex
05/25 — Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron
05/27 — Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall
05/30 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
05/31 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
06/01 — New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
06/03 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
06/05 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
06/06 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
06/07 — Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
06/09 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
06/10 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs)
06/11 — Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
08/18 — San Diego, CA @ Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
08/20 — Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
08/22 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s
08/23 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
08/24 — Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co.
08/26 — Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
08/28 — Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall
08/29 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Grand Lodge
08/30 — Vancouver, BC @ Malkin Bowl
09/02 — Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24
09/04 — Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain Winery
