The story behind Tennis is very charming. The Denver-based band, made up of husband and wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, was born out of wanderlust. Sailing down the Atlantic coast, the pair embarked on their first attempt at making music together and created their premier album, “Cape Dory”.
Seven years later and now a “proper band”, they have come full circle: to create their fourth album, “Yours Conditionally” they sailed around the Pacific. Swooning love songs framed by dreamy melodies echo their romantic story but it’s evident that Tennis goes deeper this time around. Working out the complexities that define love, identity, and feminism, the latest album sees the band at their best yet, pairing their back-to-basics approach with a worldly confidence.
Twin catches up with Alaina to find out how it’s done.
Tell us more about the album title, “Yours Conditionally”.
It was about boundaries with regards to my relationship with the world. It included my marriage, my friendships. Over the years, I feel like I was unintentionally conforming to certain things and expectations and ideals of like how a woman should be, whether it’s a writer and a performer or a wife. I thought of how unromantic it would be if I signed a letter to Patrick, “Yours Conditionally”. And we were laughing about it but then he was kind of like, no, but that means so much.
So was it about a more mature and sensible love?
Exactly. I’m a little cynical towards romance and forever and all those things and yet here I am in this long term, straight, monogamous marriage. I try to challenge myself to do better. If I’m going to write a love song, I try to do something different. I want to write a love song that’s sincere and smart and not identity erasing or self-effacing, which love songs tend to be.
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How conditional do you think the record turned out to be?
I’ve actually made a conscious decision with this record to be a lot more open, taking more emotional risks, because I noticed that whenever I did do that with the song, I feel like people responded more, even if they didn’t exactly know what I was referring to within my own life. It’s like a symbiotic relationship. So I set that goal for myself, to do more work and be a little less guarded.
In terms of your process, were you looking to get back to the simplicity of the beginning?
That’s exactly what we were looking for. And I don’t think it had to be the sailing trip so much as it was eliminating the ways in which we were trying to prop up the expectations of the industry. We gave ourselves permission to undo everything we’d ever done for the sake of making whatever we wanted with the same sincerity and goal of just pleasing ourselves, as we had with the first record.
What was that like?
It just felt so good, I can’t explain it. It brought back the joy of writing, the freedom of the first record but with some measure of skill and ability of having made several albums.
Listening back to “Yours Conditionally”, how do you think your music has changed?
I definitely hear maturity. When I listen back to our previous records I hear all the ways in which we were experimenting and growing and trying new things. I hear that sort of transformation throughout all our records and this record is really a pleasure to sing because I was able to write myself in mind instead of pretending I was somebody else.
What are you and Patrick looking forward to as Tennis?
I am definitely looking forward to Coachella. That’s going to be a very surreal experience, especially having grown up going to the festival. I was nineteen when I went to see Radiohead, and now we are going to be playing on the same day as Radiohead!
That’s incredible, congratulations!
Isn’t it? It’s almost like a life achievement that I didn’t even know I would want. If someone asked me, make a list of life goals, I couldn’t have even thought of this one, so I am very pleased (laughs).
A three-part series ‘Chuck Forever’ explores the core cultural scenes that have made Chuck Taylors so iconic. In the latest instalment we are transported to LA, where Long Beach recording artist and style icon Vince Staples guides viewers through Chuck Taylor’s influence on street style and hip hop music in urban Los Angeles.
The video, directed by award-winning filmmaker Karim Huu Do, taps into Los Angeles’ youth culture; it shows how music and fashion combine to build enduring subcultures. During the film, viewers are also introduced to Los Angeles Lakers star Jordan Clarkson, and Born and Raised founder Spanto, who each explain their relationship with Chucks, and talk us through the way they choose to dress.
Julien Cahn, the Chief Marketing Officer at Converse, explains how, “Los Angeles has played an important role in revolutionising youth culture far beyond the west coast. Chuck Taylor has been part of all of that. He’s a symbol for underdogs, rebels and individualists all around the world.”
The newly launched series focuses on the daring, confident spirit of youth culture and celebrates the impact of Chucks on diverse cultural scenes all over the world. In the first instalment, Stranger Things star Mille Bobbie Brown introduced us to the use of Chucks in film, asking what kinds of characters wear them, and why?
Contrasting rich, buttery song with a brutalist aesthetic, the teaser film released by Gareth Pugh ahead of his AW17 show tonight has us tingling with excitement.
Directed by Pugh’s long-time collaborators Ruth Hogben and Andrea Gelardin, the startling black and white aesthetic is infused with powerful sound courtesy of Rebekah Del Rio – star of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive – who performs a haunting version of her signature song ‘Llorando.’
The film opens with a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, “‘Tis’ the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind”, setting a strong precedent for a political context in his AW17 show. As Pugh notes, the film is “a vision of a world on the precipice of anarchy.”
If Pugh’s previous shows are anything to go by, audiences can expect his AW17 collection to be a damning indictment on the state of current affairs.
Meet Rianne Van Rompaey, the new face of Chanel Le Rogue ‘Crayon de Couleur’. The Dutch beauty has become a regular fixture on the luxury sartorial circuit, fronting campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Prada and Coach, walking for McQueen and gracing the cover and insides of a slew of international fashion publications. She was also nominated for Model of the Year in 2016 – not a bad list of accolades for a 21 year old.
The flame haired model has enjoyed a close relationship with Chanel, featuring in their catwalk shows as well as other beauty commercials. However this most recent partnership seems especially well suited, not only for the harmonious colouring of rogue and red, but also for their playful character and characteristics respectively.
At a time when beauty has never been so mesmerically unconventional, this is without a doubt the kind of campaign to fall in love with, and the kind of make-up we want now.
On the eve of Dior’s 70th birthday, a new documentary goes behind the scenes at one of fashion’s most successful houses to unpack the rich history of the brand. The film follows in the footsteps of the acclaimed documentary Dior and I, which focussed on the run up to Raf Simon’s (then Creative Director at Dior) first collection.
Inside Dior widens the narrative, exploring the brand’s history more widely. It first looks back to the beginnings of the house, with Christian Dior’s iconic ‘New Look’ and follows the evolution the label’s signature feminine aesthetic through to present day, with Maria Grazia Chiuri now at the helm. Highlights include the introduction to Francois Demachy, Dior’s ‘nose’, set the rose and jasmine fields of the South of France, and to makeup director, Peter Philips, as he creates the right catwalk look.
Presented in two parts, this new Dior documentary is vital viewing for those looking for unique insight into one of the most game-changing brands operating today. An aesthetic delight, catch the first episode on More4 this evening.
The Julia Stoschek Collection in Berlin is a private collection of contemporary international art. With the gallery’s focus on time-based media, the ‘Jaguars and Electric Eels’ exhibition is perfectly in keeping with its ethos. Made up of 39 artworks by 30 contributing artists, including installation artist Isaac Julien and sculptor Guan Xiao, ‘Jaguars and Electric Eels’ includes video installations and even fragrance-based art. The works are rooted in our understanding of evolution, investigating an alternative interpretation of anthropology and zoology.
Taking its inspiration from 18th Century explorer Alexander van Hombolt, who was the first researcher to point out how the forces of nature, both animate and inanimate, work together, the name of the exhibition is a reference to Hombolt’s chronicles of the New World. The chronicles were published in 1853, in a special edition entitled ‘Jaguars and Electric Eels’. The collection of works in the exhibition describe a reality that no longer distinguishes between the natural world and artificiality, but sees them as a whole and as equals.
‘Jaguars and Electric Eels’ explores some notable themes, including looking at the existence of indigenous people today, hybrids and synthetic forms of life, migration, and the different influences that impact our constantly changing perceptions of reality.
The exhibition will run until late November The Julia Stoschek Collection in Berlin.
‘Make-Do and Mend’ embraces resourcefulness, strangeness and redemption, celebrating with the unconventional beauty and spirit at the heart of the beloved Christopher Kane brand.
The SS17 campaign features model of the moment Jean Campbell, with photography by Alasdair McLellan; its story telling pictures show the figure of the outsider, an idea of a new primitivism and the transmutation of clothing – making something out of the humble and discarded, but with a throughly Kane kinda elevation.
“Combined with the resourcefulness of the forties, that feeling of ‘Make-Do and Mend’ and in that movement from the city to the countryside, there’s also an element of the supernatural and the ancient – from the sophisticated to the spiritual. This reminded us of where we grew up, just down the road from Carfin Grotto, the Roman Catholic shrine that is the Scottish version of Lourdes’’ said Christopher Kane of the new campaign. Perhaps it’s that same enduring, mystical element of Kane’s vision that has rendered his version of crocs so seductive… seriously. Whatever his magic touch is, with Kane you know you never have to compromise.
At a time when liberal values are being challenged and questioned in the West, the story of George Montague‘s campaign is timely. In November 2016, George, a 93-year-old gay man, marched on Downing Street to present Theresa May with a petition signed by 16,000 people. The petition demanded an apology for the discrimination against homosexuality and the abuse that gay men endured under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. Before homosexuality was legalised in 1967, the act often culminated in arrests and criminal records for men persecuted for their sexual orientation.
George, who was convicted of gross indecency in 1974, brought the case to the Prime Minister on behalf of all gay men who were forced to suffer shame and embarrassment as a result of the Act.
A new film from Hilow Films invites viewers into George’s life as he embarks on his journey to No.10, celebrating his activism, sense of humour, loving nature and commitment to securing the ‘sorry’ that gay men of his generation are yet to receive. You can watch the new film exclusively below.
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