By TIM MAYTOM
First Aid Kit are Johanna and Klara Söderberg, a pair of Swedish sisters barely out of their teens when they signed to Rabid Records, the label part-owned by fellow Swedes, The Knife. They first emerged with their haunting cover of Fleet Foxes‘ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,” which became a YouTube sensation, and have since produced two critically acclaimed albums of ethereal country-infused indie folk (Witchita Recordings / Jagadamba Records).
ESSENTIAL LISTENING
First Aid Kit’s cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,” which first brought them to the world’s notice.
“The Lion’s Roar,” the title track off their new album.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:
The comparisons to Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom are inevitable, given the kind of guitar and harmony-driven folk the sisters produce. However, they mix the youth of their sound with the world-weariness of their songs in a completely unique way that makes them a must-see. Johanna’s voice carries a wealth of pain and trouble, and the band has a talent for storytelling that builds an entire world in the space of one song.
More than their contemporaries, First Aid Kit are able to get inside your head and make songs that truly connect and resonate. Live, they are bewitching, effortlessly creating an intimate atmosphere and leaving the audience entranced.
IF YOU CAN:
First Aid Kit is currently in New Zealand and Australia, playing New Zealand International Arts Festival, Womad Adelaide and the Golden Plains Music Festival, but by the end of the month, the band will be touring the U.S. and Canada before hitting up Coachella.
Those North American dates include New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, Vancouver and Portland. If you can’t make it out to the desert in Indio, CA, First Aid Kit is fitting in a performance at Slim’s in San Francisco in between the two Coachellas.
After these dates is a return home to Europe for the foreseeable future, so you had better catch them now.
RELATED LINKS
First Aid Kit Official Website
First Aid Kit Official Facebook
First Aid Kit Official Twitter
First Aid Kit Official YouTube
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