Fragile
Biography
” The Eskimos live among ice their whole lives but have no single word for ice ” (M.F. Ashley Montagu – famous explorer). Like them, the French rock band Fragile never could define the music of Fragile. Hard seems to announce the guitar riffs, new wave whispers the synths, rock’n’roll screams the rhythm, pop sing the melodies.
In fact, Fragile has never wanted to label Fragile, proud to be open to all music, without blockage or a priori, proud to be ambiguous in their compositions and lyrics. Fragile likes ambivalence, preaches difference and proclaims gender diversity..
Did you say 80’s?
Founded symbolically on January 1st 1980 in Lyon, the band Fragile quickly signed a 5-year contract with EMI after opening for bands like Marquis de Sade and The Inmates, as well as performing in many festivals.
Founded symbolically on January 1st 1980 in Lyon, the band Fragile quickly signed a 5-year contract with EMI after opening for bands like Marquis de Sade and The Inmates, as well as performing in many festivals.
Released in September 1981, Fragile’s first single, Pile ou Face, was a big hit with the specialist media. Fragile’s pop and new wave rock was right in tune with the times.
While continuing to perform solo and at festivals, Fragile, who also opened for the B-52’s on their French tour, prepared his second album, recorded in Paris and mixed in London, which was released in February 1983.
This 6-track mini-album, a formula that was very much in vogue at the time, reflects the band’s evolution: the thicker sound and more assertive compositions are ostensibly turned towards the Anglo-Saxon rock universe, even if the carefully-written lyrics remain in French.
This first album brought Fragile to the attention of a wide audience, thanks in particular to a notable live appearance on the rock TV show l’Écho des bananes, and led to the band being hired to support Talking Heads and Sparks. Then, after a series of concerts in France and while preparing their new album, the band were the foreign guests at the closing concert of the Mercè festival in Barcelona, where they performed in front of tens of thousands of people.
1984
1984 was a pivotal year in the band’s career. On their new album, released in May, the band’s sound and songwriting show an evolution towards a more polished style.
The single Trop belle pour être vraie quickly became a big hit on FM. At the same time, another single, Je veux m’évader, reached a high position in the Quebec charts. Fragile, whose reputation was growing, was called to Lisbon, where he played in front of 5,000 people at the Festival de la Francophonie and took part in TV shows. Despite promising initial results, EMI, then undergoing restructuring following a change of management and artistic policy, abruptly withdrew its support for the band.
S.O.S
The band’s last single for EMI, S.O.S., was released anonymously in the spring of 1985, despite its radio potential.
The China Sea
Two years later, in 1988, Fragile finalized an ambitious project: the production of a single, Pars, distributed by Carrère and illustrated by a superb video clip shot on 35mm film and directed by Henri-Michel Bonnot. The title failed to find its audience, and while the artistic results were positive, the same could not be said of the commercial results.
Fragile, on the dream side
The band then went into dormancy before getting back to work on a concept album in English on the theme of a night of dreams and nightmares entitled The Dreamside.
In this album, released confidentially at the end of 1992, Fragile gives pride of place to vocals, successfully creating atmospheres that are alternately light and oppressive. The pop-rock compositions and arrangements open up to new sounds, and the strength of a mature band is apparent.
2017 – Back to basics
With no concrete projects, Fragile, after a long public break, continues to compose and offers a 14-track album, combining old tracks, most of them previously unreleased, with new compositions.
The band’s new album, soberly titled Fragile IV, is a harmonious blend of pop and rock tracks, and features the band’s distinctive style that has always made them so original.
2024 – The road…
Slow and steady wins the race… Fragile took their time to create a new 16-track album entitled La route..., after the title of one of the songs it contains.
To create this opus, Fragile composed new tracks, some of them in English, and revisited previously unreleased songs written by the band over the years. The result lives up to the group’s expectations. In these 16 tracks, we find all the rock and pop influences and colors that have always inspired Fragile, served up by efficient production.
To listen to tracks…