Young & Old by Tennis

Bigger, bolder but still retaining an engaging charm, it is a highly impressive melodic triumph.

With a production assist from the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, it’s a grown-up sophomore effort that embraces broader pop sensibilities.

Tennis have built on the default indiepop repertoire they performed on Cape Dory, exploring more soulful, sassier sounds to give their songs much-needed colour and energy.

The fact that the music is written by two talented people in love is something that can outlast the gimmick.

What we get is a rather good second album that contains some of the brightest and jolliest music you’ll have heard since the last time the world slid into the abyss.

All things considered, Young & Old is a more mature release which demonstrates that Tennis possess both the wisdom and guile to evolve.

Because the duo is clearly at a new stage in life both as people and songwriters, something just doesn’t add up.

Young and Old is another example of a promising young act that found an audience quickly on the internet before fully coming into its own powers.

Ultimately, Young and Old does feel a bit like the work of a band that’s doing something new because it’s supposed to be doing something new.

It's a more grown up record than their debut, the sound is fuller (Patrick Carney of the Black Keys produced), the hooks are sharper and the percussion beefier.

With a number of bands, like Cults or She & Him, playing a similar type of music and doing it much better, Tennis seemed to have squandered an opportunity to use their big-name producer and create an identity for themselves.