Tender Forever
Issue #34
Wider (K)
By Jennifer Li
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 2:50pm
If French is the language of love, then that explains why the French are masters of writing clever pop songs about love and heartbreak. From Serge Gainsbourg to Stereo Total, the French have had a long, illustrious history with the tricky subject. French ex-pat Melanie Velera, the one-woman mastermind behind Tender Forever, first explored the subject on her 2005 debut, The Soft and the Hardcore. Her frankness and unsentimental take on falling in and out of love combined with a lo-fi approach to recording earned her comparisons to fellow K artists Mirah and the Blow.
Aided sometimes by laptop beats or an acoustic guitar, Tender Forever is like a bedroom version of Postal Service. With Wider, Velera delves deeper into the abyss that comes with being in a relationship. Sometimes at the expense of sounding a little too earnest, she isn’t afraid to be blunt about what she feels. In “Heartbroken Forever,” Velera sings, “I’m your guest, I’m your lover, and like war it’ll last forever.” No shrinking violet, she painstakingly reveals all the complicated intricacies that come with couplehood.
Delving more into tragedy and the lows, finding joy on Wider is almost impossible. In “Doves vs. Pigeons,” she declares, “Oh when you talk about sex you don’t talk about love, it’s like saying that pigeons are nicer than doves, it’s a lie and we lie.” It makes you wonder if she’s ever had a decent relationship, or if they even exist? On Wider, Tender Forever leaves that question open-ended.
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