Ten Songs About Girls

Description

The new album is 10 vignettes on being female in this day and age it taps into larger questions about love, death, gender politics and the nature of existence, all delivered with a huge dose of humour, joy and warmth. Lead by indie legend and feminist icon Amelia Fletcher (Talulah Gosh/Heavenly), the band now also includes Emily Bennett from Betty and the Werewolves, replacing Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin). Emily brings another dimension to the band with her ebullient rock guitar playing, fantastic singing, and endless enthusiasm, joining existing members drummer and vocalist Katrina Dixon, John Stanley on guitar and original Heavenly bass player, Robert Pursey.

Ten Songs About Girls is Amelia & Cos most complete-sounding effort yet, filled to the brim with resounding backing vocals and glorious fuzz. The albums artwork comes in green, purple and white ¬ the suffragette colours, sharing the original feminists concern for aesthetics as well as politics. With three strong female voices on the record, sometimes harmonizing, sometimes calling and responding, sometimes singing alone, Tender Trap draw on the dynamics of the original girl group songs, but aim to show what happens when those girls arent in thrall to the male Svengali. With characteristic insight Tender Trap explore the female experience across the ten songs, from Broken Doll, which was written about a recently deceased female pop idol, to Memorabilia about a girl crying over the tattered remnants of a now dead love. Or May Day, about the long-suffering wife of a scandal-hit Tory MP and Leaving Christmas Day about a girl who discovers that her boyfriend is a creationist Christian. Two of the stand out tracks from the album are Train from Kings Cross Station, about a fickle girlfriend wanting to return to her lover in Glasgow, but discovering she is trapped in a Shangri-Las lyric (!), and current single Step One about three girls whose band is taking the indie world by storm. Just like Tender Trap of course!

The album was recorded at Bark Studios with producer Brian OShaughnessy (Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Saint Etienne). Having received considerable critical success for their last album Dansette Dansette, with plaudits from Mojo, Q, The Observer and The Sunday Times, Tender Trap have returned to renewed excitement. Leading the pack of the new wave indie-pop revival, theyve recently enjoyed prestigious support slots with The Magnetic Fields (at The Royal Festival Hall), and are set to continue to tour throughout 2012 with dates in Europe.

Still heeding to the twee manifesto, their destabilising saccharine and arsenic pop sounds every bit as good as it did back in 1986. Mojo

Phil Spector drums, girl group ba-ba-bas and songs that combine nostalgia for teenage pastimes with grown-up wit. The Observer

Riveting three-way harmonies offer depth and sophistication. Q****