Y’know that friend you have? The one that when they tell you to check a band out you do so immediately? I’m lucky enough to have a few of those but yeah, I got a nudge from one this week about Australian band Fragile Animals. “I think you’ll really like it man” was the message, So I dutifully hit play and whaddya know.
Since first hearing Fragile Animals, I’ve been completely hooked by how they blur the lines between melancholy and melody. Formed when Victoria Jenkins (vocals/bass) and Daniel Parkinson (guitars) crossed paths back in school, their sound has always felt raw and personal. They have since been joined by Dylan Stewart (Drums) and Melinda Huurdeman (Guitars) completing their line up. Over time, they found their voice on earlier EPs Light That Fades and Only Shallow // Only More. Then came Slow Motion Burial, an album that made even bigger waves. Now they’re back with Tourist, six tracks that stretch out, breathe, and wrap you in something darker yet more alive.
On the thoughts behind that title choice Victoria had this to say.
“I was really fascinated with the thought that we’re all kind of all tourists in each other’s lives, perceiving each other with varying degrees of accuracy. Much like when a tourist visits a place and their experience shapes their reality of the place. But truthfully, they’re only seeing a portion of that reality. I think that’s how we experience everything in life.“
“The people we know, the places we visit, our entire experience of the world is that of a tourist. It’s unsettling, but also quite a romantic thought. I find it beautiful that we can feel so strongly about someone or something alongside an awareness of how flawed the representation of it could be.“
Let’s get into why this EP really spoke to me.
Short, haunting, and drenched in reverb is our opener ‘People I’ll Never Know’. Guitars shimmer and drift, tremolo trembles left and right, and everything feels distant yet immediate. Victoria’s words come from that loneliness of being shaped by people we’ll never meet. It’s the idea that a thought or a line from someone unseen can hit you harder than anything close by. The track feels like a memory floating by rather than a statement. It’s a subtle but perfect start.
Then we burst into the title track. Straight away, the bassline grabs hold. It never lets go, becoming the backbone as guitars circle in loops of echo and tremolo. Dylan’s drumming keeps it fluid, never settling into a predictable groove. Victoria’s voice stands tall, framed by open space, letting every word land. This song has hooks for days. Halfway through, that glide guitar sound stirs the shoegaze spirit even deeper. Victoria has shared how this song grew from the strange comfort of connecting with strangers through their words. It’s about validation and clinging to it when you’re questioning yourself. You feel that push and pull in every note.
For ‘Sending Flares’, the band changed location, recording vocals in a quiet room at the station where Dylan works. Victoria sat on the floor, eyes shut, still clutching the notebook she wrote the lyrics in. The result is raw and exposed. Her voice sounds like it’s carrying the weight of what she’s singing. The words ‘I’m not alone’ hit especially hard. Baritone guitars fill out the low end, and there’s a lead part that soars but never overpowers. It’s a track that aches with longing yet feels powerful, wrapped in the gentlest fuzz and mournful tones.
An older idea that finally found its moment comes next. ‘Into It’ keeps that late-night feel, a song shaped by quiet hours when everything feels more real. The chorus opens up, guitars swell under heavy reverb, and there’s a melody that cuts through like a lost signal. They tracked this one late into the night, and you can almost feel the exhaustion bleeding into the song. Lyrically, it carries that sense of being pulled apart by the world yet still moving forward. The guitar line slides around like it’s searching for something it never fully finds.
‘Worldview’ is a real standout for me. It’s driven by a bass riff that feels urgent yet never forced. The guitars shimmer, but underneath, there’s a tension you can’t ignore. The lyrics speak to seeing the ugliness around us without letting it overshadow the small flashes of beauty that keep us going. Victoria explained that knowing the truth helps us keep fighting, but beauty makes life worth living. The song mirrors this perfectly, balancing gloom with brightness. The production keeps her vocals upfront, clear and strong, breaking from shoegaze tradition where voices often sink into the mix. It makes the message impossible to miss.
The EP closes out with ‘Allergic’ which for my money might be the most immediate track here. It came together quickly, and you can hear that energy. The bass drives everything forward, and Dylan’s drumming gives it an urgent pulse. Melinda and Dan’s guitars swirl, clash, and sometimes simply drift past each other. It reflects on feeling too much, the helplessness of seeing pain in others and knowing you can’t fix it. Yet there’s a strange beauty in that empathy. Victoria summed it up best: caring enough to hurt might be our saving grace. The track closes the EP not with resolution but with a burst of feeling that lingers.
Fragile Animals seen to have a knack for balancing fragility and force, and Tourist feels like a most assured step. The themes of perspective, connection and quiet desperation run through every note, giving it a sense of unity. Victoria’s voice is confident yet still vulnerable, the guitars dive deep into gloom yet remain warm, and the rhythms feel alive rather than mechanical. They’ve managed to make something intimate and vast all at once.
If you’re drawn to bands like Wolf Alice, My Bloody Valentine or Alvvays, this is a record worth living with. Let it play late at night, on headphones, and let those sounds wrap around you. Fragile Animals have made something that feels honest and deeply human. These songs open quiet doors into other lives and leave us reflecting on our own with a gentle kind of understanding.
Tourist is out now and available over on the Fragile Animals Bandcamp Page.
You can follow Fragile Animals on social media here…..
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