First Aid Kit - 'The Big Black and The Blue' (Wichita) Released 25/01/2010

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'The Big Black and the Blue' is the follow up to First Aid Kit's debut EP, 'Drunken Trees'. It was the pair’s sublime cover of Fleet Foxes’ Tiger Mountain Pheasant Song that suckered the first punch to make the music world sit up and listen. The two teenage sisters from Stockholm, Sweden, have now made a folk album full of wizened stories and vocal harmonies which utterly belie their tender years.
 
'The Big Black and The Blue' is an emotive, breathy soundtrack to their lives so far. And even though in a couple of places the album feels a bit samey and the fingers start twitching over the skip button to avoid tracks, it’s nevertheless a lesson in how to do folk properly, with beautifully plucked guitars, heavenly vocals and well-spun narrative yarns.
 
'In The Morning', the Söderbergs’ echoing harmonies offer more than a hint of the mystical call of the Sirens from O Brother Where Art Thou – no doubt the temptress aura was not a comparison the teen sisters were looking to draw. Elsewhere 'Hard Believer' offers the same kind of lyrical honesty and accusation as Ida Maria, but without the venom and red wine. It’s anti-faith, anti-preach, but the pair should note that preaching to the contrary of the converted is still preaching. That said, the track is lyrically captivating.
 
Klara and Johanna have been likened to Joan Baez and Bon Iver in their short careers to date. 'Heavy Storm’s tale of ‘perhaps’ and 'Sailor Song' will do nothing to refute those comparisons, with their note perfect harmonies and weathered recollections.

It's First Aid Kit's ability to tell a story that has earnt them such lofty comparisons and this skill is none more so obvious than on 'Ghost Town' and 'I Met Up With A King'. The former is an antithesis ballad, sure to strike a chord with the unlucky romantics of the world. The latter has the written maturity of a 40-something re-telling a childlike dream.
 
One thing is for sure, 'The Big Black and the Blue' is not about homework, a fumble behind the bike sheds and MD 20:20 on a park bench. No, First Aid Kit may be young but they posses old souls, hearing them pour them out is highly reccomended .