Sometimes you have a day that just runs you down. For days like that, I recommend a well stocked First Aid Kit. By which I mean the band, of course.
Disc 1849 is…Palomino
Artist: First Aid Kit
Year of Release: 2022
What’s up with the Cover? The Sodereberg sisters enjoy a hug out on the plains. Or maybe it is just cold out there on the prairie, and they’re huddled for warmth.
No horses in evidence to whisk them away to a heated ranch, but the dress on the right has a palomino vibe, so that’ll have to do.
How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of First Aid Kit, so I just bought this one on faith when it came out and hoped for the best.
How It Stacks Up: I have five First Aid Kit albums, which I believe is all of them. These gals have a lot of great records, so even though I loved “Palomino” it was only able to land in third spot, displacing “Ruins” in the process.
Ratings: 4 stars
There’s great tone and then there’s the tone you get with sisters Johanna and Klara of First Aid Kit. That’s the tone of another level. It’s otherworldly in its beauty – voices that fill the room with rich sound without ever needing to resort to being loud. It’s the tone of angels, of sirens, of Mirkwood elves.
This not-so-secret weapon is what makes every First Aid Kit start off with an unfair advantage. They sing with a head-turning quality that instantly draws you in, and where the slightest melodic trill becomes an irresistible hook through the sublime quality of its delivery. You will know the voice from the first few notes, and you’ll be giddy with anticipation at what comes next.
OK, enough with the flowery superlatives. How is “Palomino” as a record? It came out in late 2022, with the world just starting to shake off the torpor of the pandemic. Many artists creating music at this time resorted to smaller, more isolated sound, partly inspired by the separation they’d been feeling, and partly from a lack of ability to get to a studio and make magic happen.
Well, less so in Sweden which was light on the lockdowns and where this record is recorded (and where the band hails from). Or it could just be because everyone was – wisely – only meeting outside back then. Whatever the reason, the record feels a lot like the cover photo, expansive and yet comforting
The record also has an overall mid-tempo jump to it and some funky basslines that belie its folksy underpinnings. This is folk music that will make you want to dance a little in an elevator – maybe admiring your moves in the semi-reflective walls while doing so.
OK, maybe that last part was just me, but the record has a bit of shimmer and hustle in it that brings a lightness to your step, if not evincing the actual hustle in the process.
The worst thing about this record is that many will unfairly compare it to the band’s early classic records “The Lion’s Roar” (2012) and “Stay Gold” (2014). Those are two of the greatest pop-folk records ever made, and comparisons to them are inherently unkind. Does the nostalgic “Wild Horses II” meet the standards of the like-minded masterpieces “Emmylou” from ten years earlier? No, but that doesn’t make it bad, it just makes it a lighter shade of great.
Overall, the songwriting on “Palomino” is still at the highest degree. There is a seventies radio quality to what the sisters are doing on this record, and while that could easily generate shallowness of emotion, they instead convert that free and easy vibe into something bigger and better. The songs shift around with melodies that are 90% predictable and 10% “O – hey!” as the throw a little unexpected magic at you at the end of a bar. It’s the kind of thing that feels effortless until you sit down at a piano and try to match it. Sneaky good.
This is a record, not unlike the end of 2022, that feels like emerging from darkness. This is a record for glorious dawns, and walking with a spring in your step and maybe even a little foot shuffle or two as the traffic goes by. Just so the rest of the world knows there are good things out there in the world and that some of those things are currently bouncing around in the headphones of that mustachioed middle-aged guy walkin’ funky down the sidewalk.
OK, that last part was just me again, but buy the record and it could be you too.
Best tracks: Out of My Head, Angel, Ready to Run, Turning Onto You, Fallen Snow, A Feeling That Never Came, Palomino
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