Q & A with Fragile Animals

There's something about the sweetly melancholic indie rock of Fragile Animals that just tingles the spine. From their blissfully catchy-but-sombre melodies, to the exquisite daydreamy voice of singer Victoria Jenkins, the Sunshine Coast three-piece create breathtaking music that moves with an effortless glide.

Evolving from one person's bedroom-written songs, Fragile Animals consists of Victoria Jenkins (vocals/bass), Daniel Parkinson (guitar) and Kyle Shipton (drums); an ensemble capable of creating an incredibly detailed sound using just a few core elements. Rather than being instantly transparent of their influences, Fragile Animals merely imply. The end result is music that is rich but subtle, where each song is detailed and coloured but allowed enough room to soar.

We've been talking about this trio for a little while now, but with their debut EP, 'Light That Fades' now out, we figured it was time to dig a little deeper...

Hey, you three.  Absolutely well done on the release of the EP, 'Light That Fades'. It's very slick, dark pop, and for a three-piece, there's a lot of layers happening.  How long was the process of piecing this release together?

Thanks very much for the kind words! Things were a little slower in the beginning while we were still figuring out how to work with each other. Now that we’ve got that sorted things come together quite quickly. The first song we had finished was ‘Signals’. We went into the studio with that and we were happy with how it came together so we went away and wrote a whole bunch of other material and went back to record the rest of the EP. 

There's a lot of late 80s/90s indie & goth pop shining through in these tracks, from The Cure to the Go-Betweens, even hints of early Garbage too...  what/who would have been the big influences on the sounds on this EP?

As a band we have a lot of the same influences which is why we work well together, but we also have quite a few differing influences, which I think is why there is a bit of variation across the EP. We were listening to a lot of The National, Wolf Alice, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Tame Impala, The Stone Roses, DMA’s, Arctic Monkeys. And yeah, we listen to The Cure quite a lot. 

Fragile Animals have had a relatively quick rise in the scene. The single, 'Home' hasn't been out that long and has already clocked over 30,000 plays on Spotify, plus spins on Triple J's 'Home & Hosed'.  Has it sunk in yet?  

It’s been a bit of a head spin. Since ‘Home’ was release we’ve been really busy behind the scenes and haven’t had much of a chance to really appreciate all of the cool little things that have come our way. I do remember sending Daniel and Kyle a message when I found out we’d been added to the Fresh Finds playlist on Spotify. Later that day we were in the car driving back from a show in Brisbane and when the numbers updated at midnight we’d had something like 20,000 plays. It was a bit surreal. The radio support we’ve received has been fantastic as well, particularly from Triple J and 4ZZZ. It really means a lot to us.

Dan and Victoria, you're one of a few musical couples that play in a band together (not the first band you've been together in either).  Any hot tips on how you make that work?  And how does the songwriting partnership, plus Kyle's musical input, work out?

I guess the band is an entity all of its own and in that context we’re three individual people who are huge music fans. Daniel comes up with the initial ideas and brings them to Kyle and I, we pull them apart and put them back together. When it comes to songwriting, or anything else in the band, we are more often than not on the same page but wherever there are differences of opinion we have an underlying respect for one another as musicians that gets us through. At the end of the day we’re three people who get along and like writing music and playing shows together.

Back to the EP, now that it's been released, and you can sit back and breathe a little... which track would you each to pick as your personal favourite?

Hmm, for me ‘Home’ has always been a favourite. ‘Home’ would also be Daniel’s pick of the bunch. Kyle on the other hand says that his fav is ‘Which Comes First’.  

Thanks, legends! Well done, once again, on 'Light that Fades', and best of luck with the upcoming launch dates, starting with a show at Ric's Bar in Brisbane on November 2nd.

'Light That Fades' is available for stream on Spotify right now, or download through iTunes here.