Tender Trap

Amelia Fletcher has been a vibrant center of the universe, with her many experiments in crashpop propulsion: first the punkific Talulah Gosh, which melded into Heavenly and then the graceful Marine Research. She reemerges after a three year hiatus with the stripped to the bone pop-perfect Tender Trap. A collaboration with Rob Pursey (Heavenly, Marine Research) and former Marine Research drummer DJ on the sequences and keyboards, this latest amalgamation takes flight with resounding resiliency and speed.

Tender Trap songs are designed to be as clear and as simple as possible. Short songs, stripped down and with all the scaffolding removed to find out what lives inside. Discovering that even when rooms are completely empty they still house ghosts. Recorded mostly away from studios. Trying to understand the ways of sound molecules. Film Molecules is preceded by the 45 "Face of '73" (IPU102), included here as well, it is just one of thirteen songs, each a cudgel of hooked-out popness. One of the main differences between this and the earlier material by these folks is the programming and sequencing by DJ Downfall, which, without sacrificing any of the raw emotive power, calibrates the feelings expressed to maximum effect.

The digital version of this album is available from Bandcamp.