TENDER TRAP – Language Lessons EP (Matinee/Fortuna Pop!)
Posted: October 25th, 2006, by Marceline SmithYou know where you are with Amelia Fletcher. Whether with Heavenly, Marine Research or her new band Tender Trap, you know you’ll be getting sweet, catchy indiepop with sugarsharp lyrics, swooping vocals and plenty ba da bas. Much like Saint Etienne or Stereolab, Amelia’s bands have this specific sound that makes them instantly recogniseable however much they try and push their boundaries. There’s not much boundary pushing going on here, mind you, but it’s all so enjoyably uplifting and uncomplicated that you can’t really complain. Mostly this EP reminds me of Operation Heavenly which was always my favourite Heavenly album so I’m very happy. They even do a song about Friendster and make it feel like it was something from the early 90s (which, with the speed of new internet trends is probably about right). I doubt MySpace will ever inspire anything so sweet. Lupe from Pipas turns up on the final song Como te Llamas? for a sparky bilingual duet that ends things on a high note with a bumpidy beat and the cutest talky bit I’ve heard in a long time. Lovely.
Marceline Smith
Marceline is the fierce, terrifying force behind diskant.net, laughing with disdain as she fires sharpened blades of sarcasm in all directions. Based in Scotland, her lexicon consists of words such as 'jings', 'aboot' and 'aye': our trained voice analysts are yet to decipher some of the relentless stream of genius uttered on a twenty-four hour basis. Marceline's hobbies include working too much and going out in bad weather.
http://www.marcelinesmith.com