First Aid Kit

Overview

Should you trip up and graze your knee, First Aid Kit will numb the pain. In fact, the mesmerising voices of these Scandinavian sisters could act as an alternative painkiller for any of the aches and grumbles that come from staring at a computer screen too long or hugging your iPhone to sleep.

Johanna and Klara Soderberg, aged just 20 and 17, are creators of an enchanting collection of country-folk songs that have drawn comparisons with everyone from Joanna Newsom to Bon Iver and Laura Marling. These cute-as-a-button sisters, who grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm, initially turned to music through their love of pop princesses Britney and Beyonce. But after a friend recommended they turned their ears to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, the Soderberg sisters endeavored to learn guitar and pen some folk music. Their YouTube video cover of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song by the Fleet Foxes caught the world's attention (one-and-a-half million hits — that's ten times more than the original), including a nod from the Foxes themselves. They were quickly signed to Rabid Records, the record label run by fellow Swedes The Knife.

Now signed to London label Wichita, First Aid Kit have just released their debut album The Big Black and The Blue; an album that is both sophisticated and naive, dark and light all at once, with the quirk that comes from a Swedish tongue twisted into English. If you believe that music really does heal, let the girls work their powers on you when the duo play the Oxford Art Factory on September 9. They may just cure that funny rash or the wart on your big toe.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0VUIwtE8edY