

Once known for shutting down the venues they played with their raucous wall-of-sound, L.A.-based Tennis System has been Matty Taylor’s love-letter to loudness. Their latest single “Shelf Life,” the first from their upcoming third album Lovesick, continues that calling in spectacular fashion—spreading their noisy, melodic-shoegaze into a sprawling soundscape of crashing percussion and torn riffs.
Clocking-in at near six minutes, “Shelf Life,” never for once second feels like it’s meandering off aimlessly into a black-hole of sound—instead, it’s melancholically urgent dynamics between Taylor’s murmurs and the song’s heady sonics are emotionally consuming. And that urgency bleeds into the song’s title and lyrics as well—a knowing nod to the expiration all things seem to have—and a plea to make it count.
Anyone looking to catch Tennis System on their upcoming run of shows is no doubt in for a sonic-rush, unlike anything they’ve ever experienced. With an upcoming gig at The Echo, in particular, that’ll surely be a hurricane of shoegaze-punk insanity—played alongside the maelstrom of swirling determinations and frustrations present on Lovesick—missing out is not an option.
“We recorded live to tape and really tried to avoid putting anything on the album that we couldn’t accomplish at a show,” Taylor said of the album’s recording process. “We’re a three piece but we know how to sound big.”
Tennis System will be playing The Echo in Los Angeles on July 21. Also on the bill are Ringo Deathstarr, Blushing, The Meeting Places.
Tennis System’s new album Lovesick is out August 2 via Graceface Records. Visit Tennis System’s website, Facebook, and Instagram to stay updated on future releases and tour announcements.