Tennis Thrives In Isolation On 'Yours Conditionally'

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The band Tennis has again taken to the high seas.

Six years ago, the husband and wife duo of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley sailed in the Atlantic looking for inspiration; stories from that trip provided the songwriting material for their full-length debut, Cape Dory. Now, for their fourth album, they've returned to the water, navigating from San Diego into the Sea of Cortez on Mexico's coast — sleeping in shifts, with almost no cell service or contact with anyone on shore.

"For us, disconnecting is a huge part of our writing process," Riley says. "If we can reflect on ourselves without any sort of third-party analysis, it just makes us write more freely."

Riley and Moore spoke with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the journey that became the new album Yours Conditionally. Hear more of their conversation at the audio link.