Today, Swiss musician Thomas Schmidiger, aka Tender Ender, releases his debut album, ‘Black Swan,’ on vinyl and digital via A Tree In A Field Records.

This is the vast cinematic silence between the curtain’s fall and the echoing after. It’s opulent, cynical, and strangely soothing. Music unmoored, having found no comfortable place in the past, present, or future.

The ‘Black Swan’ is an anomaly, a beautiful accident that doesn’t arrive bearing good news. The prophecy may be dire, but the backdrop is lavish: a bruised sky filled with soaring violins and a glowing, velvet-toned crooner. This is Doomsday Pop: beautiful, yet poised on the precipice. You find a peculiar warmth in this fever dream, knowing it cannot last. The final track leaves an unsettling question: “If you won’t wake, you will sleep forever.”

<a href="https://tenderender.bandcamp.com/album/black-swan">Black Swan by Tender Ender</a>

Tender Ender marks Schmidiger’s return to his origin: a love for the piano, for Elton John, and for strong melodies. This foundation is tempered by three decades of history, which have slightly skewed the shy boy’s picturesque world. That imperfection is not digested yet; things are delicately unhinged.

The quiet genius of Doomsday Pop: polishing profoundly messed-up realities into perfect, gleaming symphonies…making the pain, for a moment, gorgeously painless to swallow.

Headline photo: © Thomas Schmidiger, Sabine Ruch

Tender Ender Website / Instagram / Bandcamp
A Tree In A Field Records Website / Instagram / Bandcamp

Tender Ender