2010–2013: Cape Dory and Young & Old Tennis's first releases, both in July 2010, were the "Baltimore" EP on the Underwater Peoples label and the "South Carolina" single on Fire Talk. Tennis released their first studio album,
Cape Dory, on
Fat Possum Records in January 2011. The album, featured on
NPR, was released on Fat Possum Records on February 14, 2012, produced by
Patrick Carney of
The Black Keys, preceded by the single "Origins", which was issued on Forest Family Records on December 6, 2011. Tennis released a number of covers as self-released (digital) singles during 2011-2012, including versions of "
Tell Her No" by
the Zombies, "Is It True?" by
Brenda Lee, "Tears in the Typing Pool" by
Broadcast and "Guiding Light" by
Television.
American Songwriter named Tennis their Writer of the Week for the week of April 23, 2012. The band made several television appearances during 2012, performing "Origins" on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 21, "It All Feels the Same" on
Late Night with David Letterman on April 9, and "My Better Self" and "High Road" on
Conan on July 25.
2014–2015: Small Sound and Ritual in Repeat In November 2013, Tennis released a 5-song EP,
Small Sound, on
Communion Records. It was previewed in
Pitchfork Advance on October 29, 2013. In May 2014, the band supported sister-act
Haim on their North American spring tour. Tennis's third album,
Ritual in Repeat, was released on Communion in September 2014 to critical acclaim. In a feature on the album, NPR
Fresh Air's Terry Gross said, "Can you reinvent lively pop from the distant past?...songwriting team Tennis does just that with their new third album,
Ritual in Repeat". NPR critic Milo Miles said, "On
Ritual in Repeat, it's like Moore and Riley discover just how much ancient Latin, or in this case extinct pop styles, is their natural language". Barone left the group in 2015. On March 29, 2015, Tennis performed at
Burger Records' Burgerama 4 festival in
Santa Ana, California. Two songs from the set, "I'm Callin" and "Never Work for Free", aired on the May 7 episode of
Last Call with Carson Daly. Tennis was also selected to perform on April 1 at the United Artists Theater at the
Ace Hotel in
Los Angeles for "The Music of
David Lynch" event, hosted by the
David Lynch Foundation.
2016–2018: Yours Conditionally and We Can Die Happy In early 2016, Moore and Riley again took a sailboat journey in the
Pacific Ocean, intended to provide inspiration for their next album. The experience was blogged by
Urban Outfitters. The band's fourth and first self-produced album,
Yours Conditionally, was released on March 5, 2017, on the band's own label, Mutually Detrimental. Record club Vinyl Me, Please chose
Yours Conditionally as its album of the month, and the album debuted at No. 3 on
Billboard's Alternative Albums chart and No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart. Tennis appeared at the 2017
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and toured supporting
Spoon and
the Shins. On November 9, 2017, Tennis released the EP
We Can Die Happy, preceded by the singles "No Exit" and "I Miss That Feeling". The band toured North America from November 2017 to February 2018 in support of the project.
2019–2022: Swimmer On November 8, 2019, Tennis released a new single, "Runner," followed by "Need Your Love" on January 20, 2020, and "How to Forgive" four days later. The three songs appeared as tracks 4, 2, and 3 (respectively) on Tennis's fifth album, titled
Swimmer, released February 14, 2020,
Swimmer was again self-produced on Moore and Riley's Mutually Detrimental label. On October 9, 2020, Tennis released a cover of the song "
Superstar." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band postponed its 2020 tour for
Swimmer, with plans to tour the United States with
Molly Burch from June 3 to November 17, 2021. In 2021 Tennis collaborated with the cartoon show
Rick and Morty to produce the song “Borrowed Time”, which aired on episode 9 of Season 5, “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall”. The song was credited to “Rick and Morty and Tennis”. in New York
2022–present: Pollen, Face Down in the Garden, and breakup On November 15, 2022, Tennis released the single "One Night with the Valet" and announced their sixth studio album,
Pollen, which was released on February 10, 2023 by Mutually Detrimental, Moore and Riley's label. A video for the song was released on December 13. The band released the second single, "Let's Make a Mistake Tonight", alongside a video for the track on January 10, 2023. The duo went on a month-long sailing trip to record the demos for this album. They often go on extended sailing trips for creative inspiration. On April 11, 2025, Tennis announced that they would release their final studio album,
Face Down in the Garden. Tennis gave a farewell tour from May through September 2025. ==Band members==