Tender Trap – Dansette Dansette

 

They’ll never admit it, but Tender Trap wear their influences on their sleeves. Straight from the title track’s opening reverb-drenched notes, it’s clear the London quintet’s third LP, Dansette Dansette, has evolved from a few nights in with The Concretes and Shop Assistants. Surprisingly, this breezy janglefest is nowhere near as insipid as it sounds. A conflate of soulful indie underpins the blissful Suddenly and equally harmonious Counting The Hours, transforming each as riveting girl-pop stock.

Dealing with subject matters as complex as gynaecologically pleasing partners, these tracks are never going to be life-changing affairs. But whereas The Pipettes continuously turned out inelegant pastiches, Tender Trap produce infectious, hand-clapping rollicks, like Do You Want A Boyfriend and Girls With Guns, that retain a curious sense of modernity. Grand National’s aching dullness highlights a dreary tailend, yet this record’s so toploaded with breezy sha-la-la-ing you’ll probably never even get that far. [Billy Hamilton]