Stay Gold
This Swedish duo of sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg play a sleek, pretty version of Americana that can only be achieved by outsiders who learn the music from the outside-in. Their harmonies are fresh and not always what one might expect from the Americana genre. Neither is the production, which is again handled by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis; songs like “Master Pretender” and “Cedar Lane” have gorgeous orchestration. The duo’s Fleet Foxes influence can still be heard, but the sisters veer closer to Handsome Family–styled Southwestern music on the mystical title track and the album opener, “My Silver Lining.” There’s also a Southern-style Bobbie Gentry/Jeannie C. Riley undercurrent; it\'s truly odd and fascinating coming from these young Swedes. “Shattered & Hollow” slows the tempo for the harmonies to shine even further. “The Bell” adds more bucolic instrumentation, which is enhanced by Mogis’ spacious production. “Waitress Song” imagines giving everything up to live in a small town and work in the food industry—as if these young women could ever turn away from the music they clearly love.
Swedish folk-pop duo First Aid Kit's third LP and first for Columbia is their grandest and arguably their most consistent release to date, featuring weary songs about transience that approach their conflicts with wiseness and maturity.
An album of growth and experience that loses nothing of what made the Swedish sisters so distinct on their arrival half a decade ago.
First Lykke Li and now First Aid Kit – there’s a serious sadness affecting Sweden’s twentysomething female folk-poppers at the moment.
On their major label debut, Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg have finally grown into their voices.
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It's a fun game to ask someone unfamiliar with First Aid Kit where the band hails from. Tennessee is a common guess, as is Georgia, and the fact that the Söderberg sisters are from Sweden always raises eyebrows.
Album review: First Aid Kit - Stay Gold. At a transcendent point in their career...
Johanna and Klara Söderberg's major label debut finds them in fine voice as ever, writes <strong>Harriet Gibsone</strong>
[xrr rating=4.0/5]Still in their very early twenties, the Söderberg sisters, Klara and Johanna, (aka First Aid Kit) have been steadily releasing albums for seven years.
The third album from Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg is the aural equivalent of lying in a sunny meadow, says James Hall
Swedish sisters follow up their technically perfect breakthrough album. Review by Lisa-Marie Ferla