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Album Review

First Aid Kit
The Big Black & The Blue Wichita

Article written by James S - Jan 28, 2010

First Aid Kit - The Big Black & The Blue

Confidence, talent and wisdom beyond my years were not qualities I possessed as a teenager. Young Swedish sisters, Klara and Johanna Söderberg, appear to have them in spades though. Together as First Aid Kit, they may have a combined band-age (geddit) of just 35 but you’d never know it from this, their debut album.

In fairness, you’d never know they were Swedish either. A clearly stated love of their Wichita label-mates Bright Eyes might explain where their Midwestern accents come from, but interviews also suggest that too much time watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch may be to blame. Either way, it’s testament to their quality that this actually enhances their sound rather than detracting from it.

Indeed, it’s the clarity and sweetness of their beautifully matched voices that forms much of what there is to love about ‘The Big Black & The Blue’. From the moment their head-turning harmonies chime out in the opening bars of In The Morning, there’s definitely something special here.

Hard Believer may start out for all the world like Mazzy Star’s Be My Angel, but it soon grows its own wings and flies. The sisters may seem too young to be singing “love is tough, time is rough” so crestfallenly but somehow you believe every word. This teenage ennui soon gives way to typical optimism and strength though with the climactic refrain of “it’s one life, and it’s this life, and it’s beautiful.”

Musically they take in some of the loveliest elements of country, folk and relatively straight singer-song writing, concentrating largely on simple acoustic guitars, autoharp and keyboards. There are shades of such great voices as Zooey Deschanel and Regina Spektor at play too, and the gorgeous Ghost Town owes much to Lauras Cantrell and Viers.

With suitably youthful idealism, they claim on their Myspace that ‘we aim for the hearts, not the charts‘. Given the strength of this record, they may well end up achieving both. First Aid Kit deserve to be plastered everywhere.

Links:
http://www.wichita-recordings.com/index.php/artists/detail/first_aid_kit/
http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit