Sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg of First Aid Kit. Neil Krug/Flickr
First Aid Kit is a Swedish folk duo comprised of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg. Their music is quickly winning over fans for its rich harmonies, simplistic arrangements and smart, world-wise lyrics. Klara, 21, sings most of the lead vocals, while Johanna, 23, provides harmonies in her deeper, huskier voice. The pair is deeply influenced by classical folk and Americana culture of the 60’s and 70’s. On June 10th, the duo is set to release their third album, Stay Gold, through Columbia Records. They are currently on a North American tour to promote the album. Johanna sat down to talk to us before playing at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall on June 6.
An ideal time
Söderberg explained that she and Klara were initially influenced by classical folk music because they “just love music from that time.”
She went on to describe that the perceived romantic simplicity of the 60’s and 70’s is appealing sentimentally as compared to today.
“I think people who are our age maybe romanticize that time,” she said, “A time when you kind of had a different romantic ideal and we thought we could change things in the world.”
References to classic folk and country artists are prevalent throughout First Aid Kit’s repertoire. The song “Emmylou,” which appears on their second album, The Lion’s Roar, refers to Johnny Cash, June Carter, Emmylou Harris, and Gram Parsons. Stay Gold contains allusions to some of the artists that have inspired the sisters, including Bob Dylan, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Ryan Adams.
Staying gold
Stay Gold is bigger, more ambitious, and braver than the band’s previous two albums. With this album, the sisters have given themselves more freedom, as compared to the simpler arrangements of their previous works.
“We thought that the songs called for a bigger arrangement, a bigger sound,” explained Söderberg. “We also had more time to do that, whereas before we were kind of limited. And now we just thought let’s get rid of those limitations and take the songs where they want to go and not be limited in any way.”
The result is a whole new, haunting sound for First Aid Kit. The album’s first track and single, “My Silver Lining,” is a perfect example of how the girls used bigger arrangements to their advantage. The song opens assertively with lilting strings and Klara’s powerful voice proclaiming, “I don’t want to wait anymore, I’m tired of looking for answers,” introducing us to the new visceral sound that continues throughout the rest of the album. The album’s second single, “Cedar Lane,” also has a larger, but gentler, arrangement, making use of a steel pedal guitar, piano, and brushed drums.
“Time and growing up and nostalgia and things like that,” Söderberg says of the album’s themes. “I think that we’re a little bit obsessed with that for some reason.” The title of the album reflects this preoccupation with the nature of time, as the duo spells out in the titular song: “Oh, I wish, for once, we could stay gold.”
Söderberg says that, this time around, the music is more personal. “[It’s] a little bit less storytelling, you know all these stories about other people. We’re more influenced by our own experiences,” she says.
“The songs find a home in other people”
When asked about the tour, Söderberg stressed her and Klara’s desire to be authentic and genuine on stage. “When you perform, you’re always sort of method acting in a way, you’re always trying to get back to the way you felt when you wrote the song,” she explains.
The band’s genuine approach to music and performance often elicits similarly genuine emotional responses from their audiences.
“The song finds a home in other people,” says Söderberg, “That’s very powerful and very rewarding. They’re beautiful, I mean, the people sometimes cry at our shows, they get very into it. It’s crazy, it brings out so many emotions. That will always be the best for me — like last night we met two little girls who were 12 years old and had started a band together. It was really, really cute. Those kinds of things really stick with you.”
Stay Gold is a powerful and effective album, perfect for the sun-drenched summer months just as the bright album cover suggests. First Aid Kit delivers music that harkens back to simpler folk sounds while taking strides forward in their personal growth as artists.
Söderberg adds, “I think people in general want something more natural, I mean that’s why we were drawn to folk: it felt really authentic and very true.”
