Fur Trader - The Tender Life (2025)

Illinois boy now LA resident Andrew Pelletier is Fur Trader and The Tender Life is his sumptuous slice of retrospective poprock. The influences here seem evenly balanced between the sweet melodic intensity of 1970s AM fare and the cutting edge of 1980s new wave hooks. Opening cut “Maybe Love Knows the Way” blows things open with a glam rock groove where the beat wraps around a sometimes wispy, sometimes full-throated vocal. Then “Weekend Rails” exudes a late 1970s McCartney-esque vibe. “The Tender Trap” has that hushed folk pop veneer so popular in the late 1970s while “The Masses” definitely embodies the artist’s self-description as doing a baroque Sufjan Stevens. The next three songs steer things into the 1980s. “Don’t Turn on Me” dials up the decade’s synth-ful demeanor, “That’s My Love” builds into lush bit of ELO-ish guitar pop, but “Can’t Do Anything About It” is far and away the should-be hit-single in this mix. Though the lovely compressed 1980s poprock sound of “Stray Bouquet” has it running a close second. Then out of the blue comes a jazzy samba departure on “Julius Ceasar Look-Alike Contest.” I’m also keen on “Poltergeist.” The oh-so 1980s drum intro gives way to a neo1950s-meets-1970spoprock jive in such a delightful way. This record is timeless and so of this anything-goes-in-music moment. It’s got sleeper hit written all over it.