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Papa's Ear
Artist
Tenniscoats
ReleaseProduct
Papa's Ear
Label
Morr Music
Catalogue Number
morr 184
Release Date
January 15, 2012

Genres

Just over a decade ago, Japanese indie-pop duo Tenniscoats recorded »Papa's Ear« (2012) and »Tan-Tan Therapy« (2007), two albums made with musical and production help from Swedish post-rock/folk trio Tape. Originally released on Häpna, they are beautiful documents of the exploratory music made by a close-knit collective of musicians, fully at ease with each other, playing songs written by Tenniscoats and arranging them in gentle and generous ways. Released during a particularly productive time for Tenniscoats – during the late ‘00s and early ‘10s, they would also collaborate with Jad Fair, The Pastels, Secai and Pastacas – they have, however, never been available on vinyl. In collaboration with Alien Transistor, Morr Music is now reissuing these albums both digitally and on vinyl, with extra tracks.

This reissue mini-series starts with »Papa’s Ear«. The second album from this expanded line-up of Tenniscoats, you can hear the musicians are immediately comfortable in each other’s presence, and they’ve almost intuitively understood what they can offer to one another. Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats bring their magical, gentle folk-pop sensibility, and their winning way with straightforward, yet lush melodies. Johan Berthling, along with fellow Tape member Tomas Hallonsten, plus guests Fredrik Ljungkvist, Lars Skoglund, Andreas Söderstrom and Andreas Werlin, all generous and creative presences in the Swedish jazz underground, shades in the songs with endlessly inventive arrangements, highlighting the warmth and curiosity at the core of the Tenniscoats’ aesthetic – sometimes taking the songs in unexpected directions, other times pillowing the melodies with the softest of brushstrokes and the kindest of tones.

»Papa’s Ear« includes some of Tenniscoats’ most memorable songs. »Papaya« is a lustrous dreamland of a song, with the Swedish musicians singing ‘pa-pa-ya’ as an enchanted tattoo, while Saya’s piano and melodica clank and huff out, further expanding the song’s horizon. It’s followed by the spindly and mysterious »Sappolondon«, where drums and double-bass shuffle and pulse under weeping accordion and bittersweet clarinet. Saya’s voice sighs into the frame while the musicians breathe lungfuls of sweet drones and flick glittering countermelodies across the song’s surface. It reminds a little of the wild kindness of Movietone, or the regal charm of Carla Bley’s compositions.

Elsewhere, you can hear Tape and their friends embracing the freedom offered by the songs of Tenniscoats: see, for example, the glistening electronics in »På floden«, like a keyboard conducting a music box on a distant planet; or the descending phrase for winds on »Sabaku«, dovetailing beautifully into a creek of moon-lit texturology. The double-LP ends with two extra tracks, drawn from the 2008 Tenniscoats/Tape split single, also released by Häpna., »Lutie Lutie« is a sweet delight, driven by a clacking drum machine, the Tenniscoats duo joined by Hallonsten on glockenspiel and synthesizer, and special guest, Japanese indie-pop legend Kazumi Nikaido, as choir. »Come Maddalena« rounds off the set, a brooding cover of an Ennio Morricone tune, the music by Tape, the vocals by Tenniscoats and Nikaido. Open-hearted and full of puckish spirit, »Papa’s Ear« is an album of great tenderness and warm friendship.

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Digital Track List

  1. 1 日が昇る / Higa Noboru / The Sun Rises (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 4:39 Buy

    日が昇る / Higa Noboru / The Sun Rises (2022 Remaster)

  2. 2 ひこうき / Hikoki / Airplane (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 8:12 Buy

    ひこうき / Hikoki / Airplane (2022 Remaster)

  3. 3 空気の底 / Kuki No Soko / The Bottom of the Air (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 4:29 Buy

    空気の底 / Kuki No Soko / The Bottom of the Air (2022 Remaster)

  4. 4 パパイヤ / Papaya (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 4:42 Buy

    パパイヤ / Papaya (2022 Remaster)

  5. 5 さっぽろんどん / Sappolondon (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 3:57 Buy

    さっぽろんどん / Sappolondon (2022 Remaster)

  6. 6 ニュー・シーズンズ・デッド / New Seasons Dead (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 5:15 Buy

    ニュー・シーズンズ・デッド / New Seasons Dead (2022 Remaster)

  7. 7 ポー・フローデン / På Floden / On the River (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 3:27 Buy

    ポー・フローデン / På Floden / On the River (2022 Remaster)

  8. 8 砂漠 / Sabaku / Desert (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 6:00 Buy

    砂漠 / Sabaku / Desert (2022 Remaster)

  9. 9 誕生日の予感 / Tanjobi No Yokan / Expectation of Birth (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 4:10 Buy

    誕生日の予感 / Tanjobi No Yokan / Expectation of Birth (2022 Remaster)

  10. 10 濁る空気わるくない / Nigor / Cloudy Air Is Not So Bad (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 2:11 Buy

    濁る空気わるくない / Nigor / Cloudy Air Is Not So Bad (2022 Remaster)

  11. 11 Come Maddalena (2022 Remaster) Tape and Johan Berthling feat. Tenniscoats and Kazumi Nikaido 5:17 Buy

    Come Maddalena (2022 Remaster)

  12. 12 ルーティー・ルーティー / Lutie Lutie (2022 Remaster) Tenniscoats and Johan Berthling feat. Tape 4:17 Buy

    ルーティー・ルーティー / Lutie Lutie (2022 Remaster)

Tenniscoats

Morr Music

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Alternative / Indie / Post-rock

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2000s

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Vinyl Reissue

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