We Speak Music
The Alxandr Returns with Smooth New Single “Tender Love”
Award-winning R&B artist The Alxandr returns with “Tender Love,” a groove-led reinterpretation of a beloved classic, out now. The track marks the first release from his forthcoming album Without Further Ado and signals the reemergence of an artist stepping back into music with clarity and confidence.
Before stepping away, The Alxandr built an impressive career throughout the 1990s, earning three Top 40 singles including a Number 1 hit in the UK, alongside major recording deals with Elektra Records / Warner Bros. Records and EMI / Capitol Records. At the height of that success, he chose to leave the industry behind to focus on raising his children.
Years later, encouraged by his daughter, he returns under a new name and perspective. The Alxandr reflects not just a comeback, but a reinvention shaped by experience, independence, and time away from the spotlight.
His musical roots run deep. Raised as the son of a preacher and a classical pianist, he grew up singing a cappella in a church where instruments were not permitted and secular music was off-limits. By high school, he had found his way to the piano on his own, developing a natural ability that would quietly influence his songwriting and sound.
That foundation carries into “Tender Love”. Inspired by the iconic songwriting and production of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, The Alxandr approached the track with a clear vision.
“I always loved the writing and production from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and this song was beautiful and lush. So I started experimenting with a version that would have more bounce and groove. That was the birth of this remake.”
The result is a warm, rhythm-forward take that blends smooth vocals with a laid-back, feel-good groove. It respects the original while giving it new movement and energy, inviting both longtime fans and new listeners into the experience.
At its heart, the song tells a simple and relatable story.
“A man that has a feminine, kind and loving woman. She’s away at the moment, and he can’t wait to see her”, The Alxandr shares.
More than a single release, “Tender Love” represents a new chapter. After years of writing and performing away from the spotlight, The Alxandr returns with intention and a renewed sense of purpose. His message is clear. It is never too late to come back to what matters most.
With Without Further Ado on the horizon, this release sets the tone for what is to come. The Alxandr is back, and this time, he is moving on his own terms.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
-
We Speak Music1 week agoMemory Spells Unleashes An Album That Glows With Human Connection
-
We Speak Music6 days agoPaul Archer Unleashes New Single ‘No Fear’
-
We Speak Music1 week agoMatt Thompson turns late-night doubt into pop fire on ‘Echo’
-
We Speak Music1 week ago
Christian Balvig offers up stunning first taster of new album in collaboration with Ensemble Hermes