CD Odyssey Disc 1849: First Aid Kit

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

CD Odyssey Disc 1162: First Aid Kit

Mark Knopfler once sang “sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug”. This week I feel like the bug. It hasn’t all been bad though. I’ve been getting free bus rides on a new “100% electric” bus the city has been trying out and my walks home have been filled with great weather and good music.

Disc 1162 is… Ruins

Artist: First Aid Kit

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Klara and Johanna Soderberg get their Giant Heads on. The problem with a duo is that a Giant Head cover can never reach its full potential; there are just too many heads to account for. Ah well, at least they have attractive heads.

How I Came To Know It: This album was just me buying their new album when it came out – I was already hooked by their earlier work

How It Stacks Up:  I have four First Aid Kit albums and while I really liked “Ruins” competition is stiff. I rank it at #3.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

I don’t know where ‘indie’ stops and ‘popular’ starts, but the single “Fireworks” from “Ruins” has 2.1 million Youtube hits in six months, so I would say they’ve arrived.

Actually, sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg (aka First Aid Kit) arrived many years prior with a song about Emmylou Harris (“Emmylou”). This was how I first discovered them, along with millions of other people. It is hard to believe that song is now six years old; I guess time flies when you are making great music.

“Ruins” continues their incredible run through the decade. It is their slickest album yet, with a more lush sound, and denser production than on previous records. I like them better stripped down, but their vocals are easily powerful enough to soar above the mix when the moment calls for it and there is still plenty of rustic guitar strumming for us purists.

The record works in organ and a pop sensibility that acknowledges a larger audience, but set to songs that have good folk bones and will offend only the most close-minded of purists. “Rebel Heart” could almost be dream pop if it weren’t for that undercurrent hard rock. Like early Heart, it is a song dressed up like it is going to a Ren Fair but with a heart of rock and roll that is ready to party when it gets there.

Above it all soars the vocals of both women, but in particular Klara Soderberg who matches the power of Nancy Wilson with the angelic tone of Linda Ronstadt. Sister Johanna is no slouch either and when they sing in harmony (which they do often) their voices play off each other like they were born to it. I suppose they were.

While the album successfully explores dream-pop on “Rebel Heart” and the more conventional kind of pop on “It’s a Shame” First Aid Kit find time to honour their musical influences as well. “Postcard” is an old seventies swing-time country song, complete with pedal steel and a delivery that would make Emmylou herself proud.

I’ve mentioned a lot of old school greats, but this isn’t because First Aid Kit is derivative, it is because they have a good sense of musical history. You never feel like they are standing on the shoulders of giants, they’re standing beside them.

The songs have melodies that slowly swell and drop and make you feel like you are being partnered through a Viennese Waltz by a ballroom champion. At times it walks up to the edge of schmaltz, but the power of the vocals and heartfelt delivery keep things real.

As its title suggests, “Ruins” is a record that explores a lot of rough patches and the title track hits the hardest of all. Here is a grade-A song of regret, where that vocal swell is a bit faster, like a light chop on the water. It is still liquid beauty, but there is a hint of distress, underscored with lyrics like:

“I tried to hold on to some kind of dignity
Too long I waded through a vast and endless sea
Thinking, I could find the secret there within

But I gave up, didn't I? It seemed the only way”

The song rocks back and forth, like it is trying to comfort you even as it lays out a collapse of confidence. When the Soderberg’s hit that high harmony you’re reminded of every disappointment you’ve ever had. It’s strangely freeing.

The album ends with the stripped down “Nothing Has To Be True” that continues the theme of regret and ends the record on a bit of a down note. But despite the lyrics the underlying tune has a triumphant progression, like just getting real with yourself is the first step on the road to redemption.

There are a couple of songs (including “Nothing Has To Be True”) which have long musical trails on them after it feels like they should have resolved, but it is short enough (and the songs good enough) that you forgive the excess. There are also moments where I would have preferred slightly less ambient sound and a bit more rawness, but that is more personal preference.

Overall, this is a great record by a band that has yet to take a misstep.

Best tracks: Rebel Heart, It’s a Shame, My Wild Sweet Love, Ruins, Nothing Has to Be True