Band of the Week: Tender Forever :: Features Music :: Articles

Hometown: Bordeaux, France
Fun Fact: Before performing as Tender Forever, Melanie Valera was in an all-female group called The Bonnies that covered '60s Motown songs.
Why It’s Worth Watching: Brandishing simple sounds with catchy vocals and break-dance moves, her live show is where Valera really comes to life.
For Fans Of: Feist, M.I.A., The Postal Service

There are some musicians who are so bombastic and intense that they demand you sit up and listen. Tender Forever's sole proprietor, Melanie Valera, is not of that category. Ethereal and sonically fluid, Valera's music under the Tender Forever moniker takes a more subtle approach, acting as a soundtrack to life as opposed to one mere, fleeting moment. Originally hailing from Bordeaux, France, but now a resident of Olympia, Washington, Valera is a one-woman enigma creating music just tickling the fringe of the mainstream-pop world.

Tender Forever began in 2005, releasing the critically acclaimed The Soft and The Hardcore late that year. The follow-up, Wider, was released on K earlier this month. A charismatic pop record, Wider backs up its floating synth beats and upbeat vocals with a certain substance, one that its creator says came from her own culturalization. “My life has changed a lot,” Valera says. “From a quiet life behind the computer, I started to travel the world and sing songs; everything got so much bigger.”

Known for the kind of intimate and captivating live shows you might see at a hip loft party or a smoke-filled underground bar in Paris, Valera has a way of engaging her audience with sparsity. “Tender Forever will never have a backing band,” she insists. “It has started in such a personal way that I don’t think anyone could ever fit and feel at ease with it.”

Building a steady cult following, a prolific touring schedule (having racked up 250 shows in the last year alone) Valera most recently hit the road with Electrelane on an early-summer trek. Without formal training, Tender Forever is a blossoming musical experiment and an outlet for its songwriter's confessions. “I remember learning piano when we didn’t have enough money, so I’d learn on a paper piano,” Valera says. “I had to imagine notes if I wanted to feel like it was actually happening.”

She's graduated to actual instruments, thankfully, and now calls the microphone her “favorite weapon.” Despite this newfound tangibility, Valera has no idea what the future holds for Tender Forever. “I don’t like to see foot prints where I’m going. I like to see blank, empty and weird spaces,” she says. “The world seems to be a place full of space, and I just need to let myself grow.”

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