Tourist

 

Fragile Animals

Tourist EP

(self released)

Earlier this month, Brisbane Australia’s Fragile Animals released this wonderful long awaited six song EP.  I say long awaited because I’ve been listening to their 2023 debut album Slow Motion Burial in my car all summer so far.  That album is so big and bright and exciting that the anticipation for more has been off the charts.  Their music is incredibly polished and they sound like a veteran band, though their first release was, I believe, in 2017.  I suppose that makes them fairly veteran, please excuse my old age, where years feel like months.  My first conscious exposure to Fragile Animals was with their 2019 “Waiting” single.  They remind me a band I would’ve flipped over in the early 90s, as they utilize the LOUD-quiet-LOUD technique of song dynamics, and find a remarkable balance of edginess and tension versus clarity, anthemic hooks, and catchiness.  The massive album closer “Breathe Out and In” from Slow Motion Burial could’ve fit seamlessly next to 90s bands like cranberries, Belly, Radiohead, Whipping Boy and the like on a really good alternative radio station or mix-tape. 

First of all, Tourist, is so perfectly recorded and mixed that it sounds amazing on any kind of audio player at any volume.  Every instrument is crystal clear and vibrant and balanced.  And speaking of that fictional 90s alternative radio station, Fragile Animals would sound especially dramatic on a high watt FM broadcast!  It’s difficult for me to imagine that a band this put together is only a minor known blip in the vast sea of independent artists.  They write sturdy timeless songs that can easily match or exceed a lot of better known bands.  Their music NEEDS to be heard and shared.

The first single, “Worldview,” from Tourist is actually an older track from their 2019 EP, the ambitiously titled Only Shallow/Only More.  The urgency of “Worldview” is palpable, as the persistent beat pulses together with a mid-range bass-line.  While the searing guitars bring the dissonance.  Victoria Jenkins sings about wanting to understand the picture.  The good and the bad or indifferent sides of humanity – not the curated glimpses of some random viewpoint of an organization or government.  Or even from an individual standpoint of social media, where people only posts their good moments, for example. 

Fragile Animals "Worldview"

There’s a pretty consistent theme throughout touching on uncertainty caused by the sheer amount of us out there, and not knowing what do believe, which can lead to isolation, and more uncertainty or less understanding.  The opening “People I’ll Never Know” is a minute of quiet music and reflection whose lyrics read like someone being so overwhelmed that they can no longer go on.  The title track is a glorious chiming dose of excellent dreampop which finds us looking for a partner, yet unsure of our instincts in recognizing what’s real and what’s not.  The dramatic cymbal crashes throughout make me wonder how they didn’t shatter or stay upright.  “Sending Flares” is another tale about seeking connection, but the sing-along chorus (“freezing to the bone”) reveals the truth that one can still feel alone whether with someone or not.

The second half begins with “Into It” A downtempo reflection lamenting the loss of innocence and how jaded we become as we get exposed to hate and the ugliness of the world.  The crushing finale is “Allergic,” which tells the conflicting emotions of possibly being a caretaker of a loved one.  Feeling lost.  Feeling claustrophic.  Nowhere to turn.  “I can’t change it!”  The music is again urgent, intense, and kind of perfect.

When I mentioned above about hearing songs like these on broadcast radio, I realize that’s a dated concept.  Most people no longer listen to the radio.  Yet I lament that bands with such extremely palatable music like this one and last year’s Attic Ocean EP, or the brand new Bleach Lab EP should be relegated to the deep underground.  It’s a crime if you ask me.  Fragile Animals are continuing to improve with each release, and that’s an unbelievably difficult feat.  Hoping there’s new LP on its way soon.  I cannot recommend this enough!

(https://fragileanimals.bandcamp.com/)

Fragile Animals "Tourist"