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On face value, Johanna and Klara Söderberg - 19 and 16
respectively - shouldn't have blackened hearts or a taste of
bitterness in their mouths. But their brand of Sweden-bred folk
portrayed in The Big Black And The Blue suggests
otherwise.
Take Hard Believer for starters. Jolly, simplistic major
chords and full teeth smiles are swept aside by the dismissal of
religion and the admittance that "time is rough on me". Their (albeit
limited range of) guitar playing takes the polar opposite direction to
their lyrics and the sisters come off as a pair very experienced in
the hardships of modern life.
Folk with a touch of melancholy took a surge when
bands such as Midlake and Fleet Foxes (whose material
the girls have covered) rose to considerable acclaim over
the past decade. Their acoustic-centred take on a
typically bright and sunny genre looks set to remain in the public eye, but
while it'd be startlingly obvious to dismiss First Aid Kit as naive and
inexperienced in such company, they avoid such criticism by scattering
references to sadness and regret across this, their first full length album.
This approach has more of an impact given
that both singer-songwriters are so tender and young. Their voices
match like jigsaw pieces, naturally; a sisterly
combination, one husky and grieving, one light and fluffy.
Waltz For Richard tells of a lover departing by sea,
cynically asking "Of course I was going to lose you. Were you ever
even there?" In A Window Opens they quip: "I would just like
to stay here, and not say a word, maybe I'd see it in clarity, for I'd
say nothing at all". The artwork accompanies this loss of hope
perfectly; a lone child stands, lute in hand, vacantly looking to
one side as a blackened sea and domineeringlt yellow moon sit grimly in the
background.
What many of us forget is that being a teenager can be the toughest
of times. By the sounds of it, both sisters have been through their
fair share of break-ups, and they have, with guts, allowed this
platform of a debut album to express their beaten and battered-at
thoughts. The result is a collection of remarkably accomplished songs.
With age, their early lyrical maturity can only blossom.
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