First Aid Kit The Big Black & the Blue (Wichita)
5/5
By: Rachel Bolland
I owe my Dad for a lot of things. Providing for me for the past 18 years, being there for me whenever I need him but also for a lot of my taste in music. He’s a pretty cool guy all truth be told, his vinyl collection elicited gems from Joy Division, The Clash, The Beatles, Talking Heads to name a few. He also has a very large soft spot for female singers, or ‘wailing women’ as my mother refers to them. Sarah McLachlan, Alison Krauss and Jenny Lewis sound tracked my adolescence and perhaps that’s why the First Aid Kit album strikes me as nothing short of brilliant.
Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, 16 and 19, respectively, possess a beauty in their voices that singers many years their senior struggle to find. It could be a sibling thing but their voices blend together in an exceptionally beautiful way, each complimenting the other and very often achieving a result that leaves other instruments almost completely irrelevant. Opener ‘In the Morning’ showcases this perfectly. Beginning with a simple guitar that gives way to stunning a cappella vocals, this song magnificently shows off the pair’s ability to harmonise, leaving the listener almost in awe.
Despite their age these girls aren’t content to sing about teenage issues. Possessing a Laura Marling-esque talent to produce songs dealing with experiences far beyond their years, there are moments on the album that are almost haunting. ‘Winter Is Upon Us’ has the unsettling description of someone looking “innocent like a still born”, while the chorus of single ‘Hard Believer’ states “Love is tough/Time is rough on me.” This maturity removes the girls from being pigeonholed with other teenage bands, making them more reminiscent of bands you would find on the Sarah McLachlan-founded Lilith Fair tour.
Although endless comparisons can be made with other artists, that isn’t to say these two aren’t special. With songs like ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Heavy Storm’ being so heart-wrenchingly beautiful it’s hard to see how the girls could be forgotten, no matter how many other similar artists pop up, while ‘Sailor Song’ provides a more upbeat, youthful air to the album. The fact that they came to many people’s attention with their gorgeous cover of Fleet Foxes’ ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’ it’s hard not to see parallels there as well as with many female singers. Yet this only displays the band’s capacity to appeal to a huge range of people, not only fans of folk or ‘wailing women’. As my dad said when I told him I was writing this: “Just put that it’s f**king brill.” Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Artists in this article: First Aid Kit
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