Tender Trap are an English indiepop/ twee pop band based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, formed in 2001 by three of the five members of

Marine Research Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

Amelia Fletcher Amelia Fletcher (born 1 January 1966) is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and economist. Music career Fletcher has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present. Her bands included Talulah Gosh, ...

, Rob Pursey, and John Downfall. Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey were previously in the twee pop bands

Talulah Gosh Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading bands of the indiepop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed in 1986 when Amelia Fletcher an ...

and Heavenly, and some have seen Tender Trap as representing a return to the pop aesthetic of those earlier bands. 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 The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocali ...

on their ''69 Love Songs'' album. The band took their name from a line in the song "One Step Forward" by Even as We Speak. 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 Claudia Miriam Gonson (born April 5, 1968) is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She often provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums. She is also the band's manager. Gonson met S ...

(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' Allo Darlin' are an indie pop band based in London. Their self-titled debut album was released on the Fortuna Pop! label in 2010, with a second album, ''Europe'', appearing in 2012. A third album, ''We Come from the Same Place'', was released in ...

) 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 Indietracks was an annual indie pop music festival at the Midland Railway in Butterley, Derbyshire, UK. The main site was located at Swanwick Junction. Bands played in variety of locations, including a restored church, in a train shed, and on ...

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" , Venus Zine 2010 Tender Trap article. 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! Fortuna POP! was an English independent record label based in London, started in 1995 by Sean Price. It specialised in indie pop music. Fortuna POP! previously promoted gigs under the banner of The Beat Hotel and then Basement Scam at the Buffal ...

Elefant Records Elefant Records is an independent record label based in Madrid, Spain. History Elefant Records was founded in 1989 by Luis Calvo as an offshoot of a fanzine he produced called "La Línea del Arco". In 2014, the label's 25th anniversary was celeb ...

* ''6 Billion People'' (2006),

/ Matinée Recordings * ''Dansette Dansette'' (2010),

* ''Ten Songs About Girls'' (2012),

EPs and Singles * "Face of 73" 7" (2002), K Records * "Oh Katrina" 7" (2002),

* ''¿Como Te Llamas?'' EP (2004),

* ''Language Lessons'' EP (2005), Matinée Recordings * "Fireworks" CD / download single (2009),

* "Do You Want a Boyfriend?" CD / 7" (2010),

* "Dansette Dansette!" CD single (2010),

* "Girls With Guns" CD single (2010),

* "Step One" 7" (2012),

Appearances * '' Fields And Streams'' (2002),

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

References

External links

Tender Trap
at Matinée Recordings {{Authority control English indie rock groups K Records artists Musical groups established in 2001 British indie pop groups