Under the moniker Tender Mercy, singer-songwriter Mark Kramer crafts works of minimalism that make the negative space between notes as important as whats being played. With his latest album, War Within which was released on Oct. 17 Kramer delves deep into his dark side, creating a bleak, yet beautiful, ambient landscape plumbed from the depths of his soul.
LEO: Who are the themes on War Within directed toward? Mark Kramer: I think Im just speaking to everybody. Anybody listening. Especially the second to last line [in the title track], Youre not going to win the war within. Its my favorite line, but I dont know if thats true or not. The war within being the inner struggle emotional or mental. I dont know why, but [I wrote] Youre not going to win, I guess just to be darker than dark. But I liked how it sounds, so I left it. And some people do win and some people dont.
Why is defeat the outcome? Because I think thats where my brain always goes. I dont have, like, a super great sense of self-worth or Oh, I can do this. Im not super confident. Thats totally why my brain went there. Like, Oh man, nothing else has worked out, and this isnt going to work out either.
Talk about Im Being Followed, which features a bleak ending? I think Im Being Followed is more about subtlety, and I didnt come out and say it, because its boring to come right out and say things. But its more about a person, a female, being followed. The second part is about a car parked down the block, and the car is moving towards you. There is a car parked down the block. The headlights arent on, but they are moving towards you. This person is stalking you. Thats just overall a males-preying-on-females-type theme. I didnt really know how to come right out and say it. I dont like to just come out and say it. I like for things to be subtle.
Tender Mercys latest album, War Within, is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and iTunes.
This article appears in November 6, 2019.