What if I told you that some of the greatest Americana of the 21st century was a product of Sweden? Crazy? Not really. If you aren’t already aware of First Aid Kit, then I suggest you get caught up.
First Aid Kit is sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg who were raised in Stockhom, Sweden on a steady diet of Emmylou Harris, Fleetwood Mac, and Bob Dylan. They chose the name First Aid Kit to reflect healing and simplicity. Both born in the early ’90s, their mother worked in set design and props in the Swedish film industry and their father played bass in a Swedish punk rock band called Lolita Pop. With no shortage of creative inspiration in their upbringing and the aforementioned healthy dose of American folk and rock, their sound is a perfect blend of their Swedish roots with American folk traditions. It makes them an unusual yet beloved bridge between continents in modern folk music and central to the modern Americana scene. Their sisterly harmonies are incredibly tight and natural, much like you’d expect from siblings who spent their lives creating together. Seeing them live is indisputable proof of just how natural those harmonies really are, flawless and precise in real time.
Stay Gold is their third full-length album and the follow-up to 2012’s The Lion’s Roar. Heavily orchestral and sonically draped in golden tones, it is their most commercially successful release. It’s a record about impermanence and capturing fleeting beauty before it fades. It’s a celebration of the brief, final glow in the horizon before sunset and the perfect bloom just before it closes. It hits right in the sweet spot between happiness and sorrow with a chorus of strings leading the charge. The production, fuller and richer than previous albums, still manages to preserve the simplicity of the music while expanding the palette with a cornucopia of strings, woodwinds, and percussion. Their father Benkt plays bass on all but one track on the album making it a true family affair. Standout track “My Silver Lining” opens the show and sets the tone for the road ahead. “A Long Time Ago” closes it down with a tender acceptance, sweetly backed by piano and strings, a beautiful and sorrowful goodbye.
Stay Gold is First Aid Kit at their most luminous, an album that captures fleeting beauty in widescreen folk-rock. With strings that shimmer like twilight and harmonies that ache with honesty, the Söderberg sisters remind us that nothing golden lasts forever, but for forty minutes they make it feel like it just might.
Highlights
My Silver Lining: picturesque cinematic opener, the perfect start to set the vibe for the album, lush strings aplenty with violin, viola, and cello
Stay Gold: title track that lyrically ties in the album’s namesake “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost, sweeping chorus, swelling strings, lyrically bittersweet and melancholic
Cedar Lane: dreamy, folk laced with classic country, crisp sisterly harmonies, smooth kisses from the steel guitar, orchestral flourishes
Waitress Song: storyteller’s song about skipping town and starting over, cinematic and upbeat, lucid daydream
Heaven Knows: foot stomper, a sort of “kiss off” to a no good dude, complete with a feel good holler
“Something good comes with the bad. A song’s never just sad. There′s hope, there’s a silver lining.”
-“My Silver Lining”, First Aid Kit (2014)
This is a favorite of my wife that comes from the Defined Dish. Good for any season but especially great for Spring, Summer, and Fall. Kick off Side A the right way with one of these refreshing numbers. Cheers!
Golden Hour
2 oz vodka
1 oz Aperol
1 oz St Germain
1 oz lemon juice
Topo Chico
In a shaker filled with ice, add vodka, Aperol, St. Germain, and lemon juice, and shake.
Groove Rituals 