Tennyson are a Canadian musical duo consisting of siblings Luke and Tess Pretty formed in 2012.
Origins Tennyson was formed by Luke and Tess Pretty in 2012. The pair began busking in Edmonton between ages 7 and 9, covering songs by bands such as The Beatles, Coldplay, and Weezer.
Both Tess and Luke were encouraged to be creative from a very young age by their father, Greg Pretty. Luke and Tess shared how their father did this by painting shapes and images on their tables and chairs at home, as well as helping them make intricate homemade Halloween costumes throughout their childhood.
Once Luke started gaining a following for his electronic style music, the duo decided to fuse their Jazz and Blues background with Luke's electronic and sound sample styled music.
Musical career 2012–2016 In 2014, Luke decided to incorporate electronica into his music, enlisting his sister on drums, and posting the resulting music to SoundCloud. This gained the attention of Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth, who chose the track "You're Cute" to launch his online imprint "Secret Songs".
Later that year, Tennyson released two tracks: “With You” and “Lay-by.”
In 2015, Tennyson released the Like What? EP with six tracks. The music video for the title track was directed by Fantavious Fritz.
Tennyson performed an opening act for M83's Junk tour in 2016, they were also featured in the Lollapalooza lineup in 2016.
2017–2021 Tennyson performed at numerous music festivals in 2017. They performed alongside artists such as Vince Staples, BADBADNOTGOOD, Dawes, Post Malone, Moby, Wiz Khalifa, Flying Lotus, The Knocks, Chris Lake, Gorillaz, Lorde, blink-182 and Chance the Rapper.
In 2017, Tennyson collaborated with BJ the Chicago Kid and Mr. Carmack to create the EP entitled Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. The collaborators partnered with Red Bull to release the EP for the Red Bull Sound Select event. Tennyson was also featured on Red Bull’s website.
Later that year, the duo had toured in Europe, Asia and Australia.
On March 1, 2019, Tennyson released Different Water quickly followed by the release of the EP entitled Telescope on November 22, 2019. Different Water has been described as "memorable melodies and busy, layered beats with touches of their jazz background sliding in and out of their compositions".
Different Water and Telescope included more vocal tracks than usual for the duo. Telescope was inspired by Luke's time in Japan and Waneella's viral image. Luke wanted to capture the image's feelings of clarity and stillness through sound in his album.
2022–present Luke Pretty released his second album entitled Rot on February 18, 2022. The music of Rot was inspired by the musician's struggle with a hearing condition he developed due to mold exposure. Tennyson were listed on Billboard's 10 Dance Artists To Watch in 2022.
In the same year, Tennyson went on various show tours across the North America and Europe. The duo was joined by the guitarist Beau Diako and bassist Akos Forgacs.
In 2024, Luke collaborated with Seattle artist Leslie for a seven track album entitled "Dolphin".
Musical style The pair's "indietronic pop" style of music has been described as "a little R&B, a little jazz, a little classical, divinely characterised through the diverse array of instruments present". Many of their tracks contain organic sounds such as water, fire, and percussive sounds from bongo drums, glass and jungle-inspired beats. They have also been known to sample a wide range of sounds, such as purring cats, ring tones, texting noises, Mac OS sound effects and notably the "door left ajar" car sound in their track "Lay-by".
Following the release of Different Water EP, Luke released a sample pack bearing the same name on Splice.
Discography
Studio albums Title Details Tennyson Released: 4 April 2012 Label: Luke Tennyson Pretty Format: Digital download Rot Released: 18 February 2022 Label: Counter Records Format: Digital download, Vinyl Dolphin (with Leslie) Released: 20 September 2024 Label: Tennyson + Leslie Format: Digital download aka Released: 7 November 2025 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download, Vinyl, CD
Extended plays Title Details Blamer Released: 3 December 2012 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Like What Released: 23 November 2015 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Released: 14 February 2017 Label: Tennyson & Mr. Carmack Format: Digital download Uh Oh! Released: 29 September 2017 Label: OWSLA Format: Digital download Different Water Released: 1 March 2019 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Telescope Released: 22 November 2019 Label: Counter Records Format: Digital download plx Released: 3 July 2026 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download
Singles Title Details Violet Alturas Released: 11 June 2013 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Aphasia Rewinding Released: 3 November 2013 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download No Answer Released: 15 December 2013 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download For You Released: 27 January 2014 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download You're Cute Released: 16 May 2014 Label: Secret Songs Format: Digital download Lay-by Released: 1 July 2014 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download With You Released: 8 October 2014 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download In One Piece Released: 19 November 2014 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Smother (feat. Mothica) Released: 8 March 2015 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Slipperz Released: 18 November 2015 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download XYZ Released: 10 June 2016 Label: Last Gang Format: Digital download All Yours Released: 6 October 2017 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Your Eyes (feat. Njomza) Released: 31 July 2018 Label: Foreign Family Collective / Counter Records Format: Digital download Tuesday Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Wednesday Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Thursday (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid) Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Cry Bird Released: 6 October 2017 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Face the Night Released: 31 July 2018 Label: Foreign Family Collective / Counter Records Format: Digital download Streamer 2-Chōme Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Wintersleep Released: 6 October 2017 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Telescope Released: 31 July 2018 Label: Foreign Family Collective / Counter Records Format: Digital download Collapse Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Innerspace Released: 8 October 2021 Label: College Music Records Format: Digital download
Collaborations Title Details eons away (with santpoort) Released: 27 August 2021 Label: Friends of Friends Format: Digital download Pathwork (with Cabin Music) Released: 3 November 2020 Label: Format: Digital download Vacuum Lessons (with Anatole Muster & daniel hayn) Released: 29 January 2021 Label: Format: Digital download
Remixes Title Details Flight Facilities – Arty Boy Released: 6 October 2017 Label: Tennyson Format: Digital download Kasbo – Your Tempo Released: 31 July 2018 Label: Foreign Family Collective / Counter Records Format: Digital download PLS&TY – Motives Released: 4 April 2019 Label: PLS&TY Format: Digital download Nicky Romero & Sick Individuals – Only For You Released: 2 December 2020 Label: Protocol Recordings Format: Digital download Savel – Forgetting Released: 29 January 2021 Label: Silent Audio Format: Digital download White Sea – Stranger (Skrillex Remix) Released: 29 January 2021 Label: OWSLA Format: Digital download
References
External links
Official website