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Music

First Aid Kit

FIRST AID KIT with PEGGY SUE at the Great Hall (1087 Queen West), Wednesday (April 4), doors 9 pm. $18. RT, SS, TW. See listing.


Sitting in her family home in Stockholm, Sweden, Klara Söderberg’s gaze falls upon a modest collection of snow globes on her mantelpiece.

“There are only five right now,” she says of the souvenirs, relics of recent tour stops throughout Europe and Australia. “Hopefully we’ll have hundreds one day.”

Considering the trajectory of her band, First Aid Kit, that day will likely come sooner rather than later.

Only 19 and 22 years old, Klara Söderberg and her older sister/musical partner Johanna recently released their second album, which shot to number one in Sweden and has led to sold-out shows throughout the world and a prime opening slot for Jack White’s upcoming solo tour.

Whereas their stripped-down, plainly presented debut, The Big Black & The Blue, played up the intimacy of the sisters’ wistful folk harmonies, The Lion’s Roar (Wichita) swaps their bedroom for a professional studio in Omaha, Nebraska, and fleshes out the arrangements with production help from one of their personal heroes, Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes.

That’s pretty momentous, considering that Bright Eyes introduced the younger Söderberg to Americana, country and folk at the age of 12. (Before then, her musical education was limited to mainstream pop radio and her father’s collection of punk and new wave albums.) Subsequently, Klara introduced Bright Eyes to Johanna.

“It took my sister a couple of months after me to get into Bright Eyes,” recalls the soft-spoken songwriter, “because whenever I would listen to the band I would sing along really loudly. One day she was listening to Bright Eyes by herself and said, ‘Oh, this is what it sounds like without your voice on it. It’s actually good.'”

Not that Johanna discouraged her sister’s burgeoning interest in singing and songwriting. In fact, the sisters’ harmonies have become the band’s most powerful weapon.

For example, the most breathtaking song on their new album, Emmylou, references Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash and June Carter in order to demonstrate the bond that can form through singing in duet.

“It’s about how close you can be to someone just by singing with them. You have to be very honest when you’re singing with someone, and give it your all. It’s a very personal thing.”

Interview Clips

First Aid Kit had their first brush with success when their 2008 self-recorded cover of Fleet Foxes’ Tiger Mountain Peasant Song went viral on YouTube, later earning them an invitation to perform the song with the band at a concert in Holland. Here, Klara Söderberg confesses to watching other fans’ covers of First Aid Kit songs.

Download associated audio clip.

First Aid Kit filmed their video for Emmylou in the Joshua Tree Desert, almost turning it into a shrine for Gram Parsons. Söderberg explains how all her conceptions of America are still based mostly on musical mythology.

Download associated audio clip.

After the video for Emmylou came out, the Söderberg sisters received positive feedback from both Polly Parsons and Roseanne Cash (daughters of Gram Parsons and Johnny Cash, respectively).

Download associated audio clip.

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