Melanie Valera is Tender Forever - and so are her songs. Not tender in a Hallmark, fuzzy bunny sort of way - or cliché in the slightest - simply tender in the care with which they're mined, crafted and presented, and tender in the themes they present. Once described as both, "a laptop, a long mic cord and almost too much enthusiasm," and, "a kick drum in an empty warehouse while little kids play right outside." Valera, through Tender Forever, has found something real and reassuring in her music, which searches for connection in an ever-more-connected world that just keeps feeling more and more isolated. The crazy thing is: it works - as it will Friday at Northern. 

[Northern, with Selector Dub Narcotic, Girls in Trouble, Drum Kit, 9 p.m., all ages, $6, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]