"Tender Forever comes along in tough times. Nobody can ignore the dark places we've watched the world go in the past few years. But as divisions grows in the world, so does our ability to connect. Ours is a world exploding with communication and Tender Forever sits neatly in the center of that explosion. Lots of flights and some missed phone calls, friends here, lovers there. Missed connections and connections made. Melanie Valera's Franco- American pop project spans nationalities and leaps forward towards a world where we can close the gaps between countries, ideologies and ultimately hearts. Move closer.
Valera was born in 1977, the year of the punk, and spent her formative years in the village of Maurr, in south west France. As often happens, this small town kid pushed past the restrictions of that kind of environment, out into the larger world. In this case the city of Bordeaux and the University Michel de Montaigne of Arts. Her years in Bordeaux saw her developing an aesthetic that would transfer into her first musical projects the Bonnies, and later, Garrison Rocks. Armed with Girl Group and R&B classics The Bonnies took on the streets of Bordeaux, and with the partnership of a Californian band mate and intelligent, soulful pop Garrison Rocks took on Melanie's expanding world.
Tender Forever became Melanie's project in 2003, a solo effort which simplified and concentrated her music. A laptop, a long mic cord and almost too much enthusiasm was all it took. Tender Forever from the start was as much an experience as a band. That girl with the mic moves with passion, pounds out fear, falls to her knees, cranks up the visuals and passes it off to you. All of this quickly led her out of Bordeaux to the gentle state of Washington and weird, weird city of Olympia. New friends and collaborators of a like mind, including Mirah, The Blow, Anna Oxygen and Calvin Johnson kept it a busy summer. These new connections would be the beginning of a Northwest/Bordeaux connection sending bands back and forth, and further establishing Melanie's new intercontinental artistic life.
The Soft and the Hardcore, released by K in 2005 was the culmination of everything Melanie had done up to this point and then some. Songs sung in the tiny moments of waiting, hoping and loving that we experience each day, fleshed out in full color and life. The explicitly personal and ecstatically universal rolled into one, filled with the power of international anthems. The Soft and the Hardcore is a testament to the terrifying and trilling first moments of love and self realization.
With her 2007 release, Wider, Melanie stretched out across both the globe and an expansive musical landscape. The album was recorded between Bordeaux and Olympia in the Dub Narcotic studio, hotel rooms, friend's basements and guestrooms. Both lush and focused, Wider portrays an artist and person with new confidence, at home in a big/small world. For all their power Tender Forever songs remain just that; tender. A song is a delicate thing and Melanie coaxes these fragile things into the larger world. Tender Forever is the biggest, softest sound you've heard. It's a kick drum in an empty warehouse while little kids play right outside.
For every connection we make there is a darkness waiting. The darkness of the unknown, the fear of transgression. When these connections we're all making and the risks that they bring catch up with us, we're left only with pushing forward. Melanie says it best, Get on the plane it's too late, We'll decide now if it's fate. No one will tell no one for sure, we're just lovers feeling unsure. All that insecurity just keeps us going, following tenderness out into a bursting new world."

BY DIRK KINSEY.