FIRST AID KIT play the Great Hall Wednesday (April 4). See listing. Rating: NNNN
Young Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit bring a wonderful dour quality to their brand of folk music. On their second album, Klara and Johanna Söderberg deliver clear, bold vocal melodies and wallops of close harmonies. The younger Klara sings most of the lead, and her full, direct style is always assertive and sometimes confrontational, a pleasant departure from the bright-eyed sweetness of many of their peers.
They save overt prettiness for the music. Acoustic guitars strum. Lap steels undulate. Drums shuffle. Glockenspiels tinkle. Organs hum. The reverb-heavy production, courtesy of Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis, is a significant step up from the rawness of their debut. Second song Emmylou unabashedly declares their influences – “I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June and you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny, too” – while the transfixing This Old Routine and To A Poet reveal a world-weariness beyond their years.
Top track: To A Poet
