Tender Trap

Tender Trap
Tender Trap playing in Liverpool, July 2010
Background information
Origin	London, England, UK
Genres	Indie pop Twee pop
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Fortuna Pop! K Records Elefant Records Matinée Recordings
Members	Amelia Fletcher Katrina Dixon Rob Pursey Emily Bennett John Stanley
Past members	Elizabeth Morris
Website	http://www.myspace.com/tendertrap

Tender Trap is an indie rock/twee pop band, based in London (UK), formed in 2001 by three of the five members of Marine Research - Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey, and John Downfall.

Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey were previously in the twee pop band Heavenly, and some have seen Tender Trap as representing a return to the pop aesthetic of that earlier band. On their first, electronically slanted album Film Molecules, the songs demonstrate an eclectic mix of musical styles, with a clear nod to the similarly eclectic approach taken by The Magnetic Fields on their 69 Love Songs album.

The band's initial intention was to be a recording outfit only, due to their hatred of transporting drums from place to place. They compromised by playing live but using a CD player for backing beats. Additional live performers have included Claudia Gonson (of The Magnetic Fields) on drums, and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas and Amor de Días, who was a guest vocalist on the Language Lessons EP and the second album 6 Billion People.

After a quiet 2007-2008, Tender Trap reformed at the beginning of 2009 as a five piece, with additional members Elizabeth Morris (also in Allo Darlin') on guitar and vocals and Katrina Dixon (formerly of Police Cat, Sally Skull and The Garden City Project) on drums and vocals. They performed on the main stage at Indietracks festival in Derbyshire in July 2009 and the indoor stage in July 2010. Elizabeth Morris left to concentrate on Allo Darlin' in August 2010 and Emily Bennett (Betty And The Werewolves) joined the following month on guitar and vocals.

In 2010, Tender Trap released Dansette Dansette, an album that finds Fletcher working with "up-and-coming British indie luminaries, rediscovering her musical beginnings, and continuing to incorporate and impart feminist consciousness through sharp, yet tender, pop songs"

As of 2014, the band is on indefinite hiatus, and Fletcher and Pursey now perform as The Catenary Wires.

Discography

Albums

• Film Molecules (2002), K Records / Fortuna Pop! / Elefant Records
• 6 Billion People (2006), Fortuna Pop! / Matinée Recordings
• Dansette Dansette (2010), Fortuna Pop!
• Ten Songs About Girls (2012), Fortuna Pop!

EPs and Singles

• Face of 73 7" (2002), K Records
• Oh Katrina 7" (2002), Fortuna Pop!
• ¿Como Te Llamas? EP (2004), Elefant Records
• Language Lessons EP (2005), Matinée Recordings
• Fireworks CD / download single (2009), Fortuna Pop!
• Do You Want a Boyfriend? CD / 7" (2010), Fortuna Pop!
• Dansette Dansette! CD single (2010), Fortuna Pop!
• Girls With Guns CD single (2010), Fortuna Pop!
• Step One 7" (2012), Fortuna Pop!

Appearances

• Fields And Streams (2002), Kill Rock Stars

External links

• Tender Trap at Matinée Recordings