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    <title>TENDER FOREVER</title>
    <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever</link>
    <description><![CDATA[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]]></description>
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      <title>in the backyard</title>
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      <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:52:57 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>wider too</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/audio/178738</link>
      <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:48:06 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>The Magic Of The Crashing Stars</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/audio/167102</link>
      <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:23:11 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>Then If I'm Weird I Want to Share</title>
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      <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:55:10 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>The Magic Of The Crashing Stars - Music Video</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/videos/1742148</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>By Justin Lowe</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:45:34 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>Tender Forever on the national French TV - LIVE</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/videos/1742147</link>
      <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:38:56 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>TENDERFOREVER - new album WIDER out soon</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/videos/1742145</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>Made by Justin and Briana Lowe in Portland, OR - august 2007</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:36:42 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>TENDER FOREVER - "So We Could Deal"</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1621903</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1621903"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-1295471-wecoulddealstill.jpg" /></a><p>Still from the Music Video &quot;SO WE COULD DEAL&quot; filmed by Justin and Briana Lowe at WK in August 2007 in Portland, OR.</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:37:05 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1621903</guid>
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      <title>what do you do when you're bored?</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418719</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418719"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839461-postitnotesjaguar.jpg" /></a><p>you buy post it notes and you do things with them</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:25:20 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418719</guid>
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      <title>Santa Barbara - April 2005</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418718</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418718"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839460-tenderforever.jpg" /></a><p>Photo by Khaela Maricich</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:25:15 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418718</guid>
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      <title>June 2007 - Malibu, CA - At Matt Groening's house</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418717</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418717"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839459-POD1186524180.jpg" /></a><p>Photo by Emma Gaze</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:25:08 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>Paris, March 2007 - La Cigale</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418716</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418716"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839458-POD1178581199.jpg" /></a>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:24:48 -0700</pubDate>
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      <title>Tender Forever on the National French TV</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418714</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418714"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839456-POD1173128772.jpg" /></a><p>Photo by Heather Treadway</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:24:39 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418714</guid>
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      <title>For a bicycle ride in the south of France - old  chapel</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418713</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418713"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839455-POD1158015104.jpg" /></a><p>Photo by G.Gouardes</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:24:36 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418713</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Bimbo Tower in Tokyo!!!</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418712</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418712"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839453-POD1137197907.jpg" /></a><p>photo by Aymerick Henault</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:21:59 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418712</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Silkscreening the LP while Spider &amp; The web are recording with CJ</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418711</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418711"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839450-POD1136596296.jpg" /></a><p>Rhett Nelson took that one too.</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:20:51 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418711</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Recording "Tender Forever" with Khaela</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418710</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418710"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839447-POD1156377254.jpg" /></a><p>photo by Rhett Nelson</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:19:37 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418710</guid>
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      <title>At K </title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418709</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418709"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839445-POD1144454737.jpg" /></a><p>Photo by Mariella Luz</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:18:10 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418709</guid>
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      <title>Bordeaux, fr - Nov 2006</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418708</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418708"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839444-AP1155944007.jpg" /></a><p><br />
photo by Ludovic Pages</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:16:36 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418708</guid>
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      <title>Priest Point Park - Olympia, wa - July 2007</title>
      <link>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418707</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<a href="http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418707"><img src="http://g.virbcdn.com/i/resize_575x575/Image-164350-839441-CIMG3471.jpg" /></a><p>photo by Heather Treadway</p>]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:12:46 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://virb.com/tenderforever/photos/1418707</guid>
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