Live Review: Tennyson at The Sound House

Tennyson, the Canadian brother-sister duo comprised of Luke Pretty, 22, and Tess Pretty, 20, filled Dublin's Sound House with a sense of whimsy on Sunday night. Their profoundly distinct and creative sound lead the audience to dance at times, and stare, mesmerized with wonder, at others.

The crowd of thirty-odd members watched earnestly as Tess and Luke invoked an intensely ambient atmosphere through their jazz-infused electronica songs and stage lit intermittently by a series of paper lanterns that glowed in time with the beats.

“Thanks for coming,” Luke said, as they first took the stage. “If you guys want, you could even move a bit closer.”

As the audience was drawn to the foot of the stage, the duo began their 90-minute set - the first third of which was made up of their older songs.

The siblings boast an expansive discography that stretches all the way back to 2012 and includes myriad singles and their debut, self-titled album, as well as their newest EP, Different Water, which was released at the beginning of the month.

Having begun their musical journey by busking on the streets of Edmonton at the ages of 7 and 9, Tess and Luke are clearly at home on stage, playing their instruments as naturally as if their music is a second language.

One of many standout moments in the night came during ‘Cry Bird’, one of Tennyson’s few songs that contains lyrics. Luke invited the crowd to join in, shouting, “Everybody!”

Happily obliging, the audience echoed the song’s vocal refrains with the band. Dancing and clapping along to the music, Tennyson was able to keep the audience fully engaged throughout the show’s duration - not a small feat for a Sunday night.

Other highlights included renditions of ‘Fault Line’, ‘Body Language’ and ‘Pancake Feet’, all of which kept the crowd dancing with their high energy and pulsing instrumental and electronic rhythms. They also played ‘You're Cute’, a groovy, upbeat track which became the first single ever released on the Secret Songs imprint founded by Ryan Hemsworth in 2015.

“Me and Tess don’t really get any time to see Dublin,” Luke commented between tracks. “So you guys are basically the one thing we get to see here.”

Tennyson then jumped into playing ‘Beautiful World’, a slower and melodic track that incorporates both artist’s vocals during repeated choruses of “What for? What for? / Out there? / Everything's here.”

Before beginning to play their newer songs, Luke took a moment to address the audience.

“So the last couple shows, I’ve been showing people what I actually am doing up here,” he said, going on to explain how he triggers different audio bits through his electronic kits while simultaneously playing the keyboard. Additionally, he explained how Tess’s electronic drum kit worked, as she demonstrated the different sounds of each percussion.

Afterward, the duo transitioned into playing songs from Different Water, including crowd-favourites ‘Face the Night,’ ‘Melonpan’ and ‘Wintersleep’.

Both Tess and Luke seem to play with a magnetic focus that is wholly captivating to witness. At one point, Luke was admittedly so lost in the performance that Tess had to remind him which tracks they had yet to play.

“Do you realise?” She asked. “There’s only one song left.”

The band finished the set with ‘Lay-by’, a hypnotic and vibrant track that uses the caution beep of a car seatbelt alarm as its basis and which has amassed more than five million streams on Spotify.

As the duo played out the final measures of the song, Luke yelled out to the crowd one last time.

“This is a really, really cool way to end off our tour. Thank you so much, Dublin!”