Music: First Aid Kit

Jeff Hemmings charts the rise of the Swedish musical siblings

Made up of sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg, Sweden’s biggest musical export of recent years were initially helped along by their father who was a member of Swedish rock and pop band Lolita Pop, and who had a home studio.

The sisters started making their own music in the mid 2000s, before a chance meeting in a kindergarden between the sisters mother and The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson led to them being signed to Rabid Records, co-owned by The Knife, and through which they released their debut EP, ‘Drunken Trees’, in 2008.

Subsequently, they uploaded a cover of Fleet Foxes’ ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’ to Youtube, which was picked up by Rob Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, who posted a link to the band’s webpage, inevitably causing a surge of interest – which led to the duo signing with Wichita, home to Klara’s hero Conor Obert of Bright Eyes. They didn’t perform their first show outside Scandinavia until around this time, at the Crossing Border Festival. Fleet Foxes also performed there, and the duo joined them on stage to sing ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’.

With success beckoning, the girls quit school, and their father – now a teacher – took leave and accompanied them on tour.

The debut album ‘The Big Black & The Blue’ was released in 2010, followed by ‘The Lion’s Roar’ in 2012, debuting at number one in Sweden. Also, realising an early dream, the duo ended up performing and touring with Conor Oberst.

Massively in thrall to the music, styles and history of the United States of America, old and new, their music is heavily folk-country biased, although last year’s ‘Stay Gold’ album is more expansive whilst still retaining those soaring vocal melodies and classic country instrumentation. It made number 11 here in the UK, and not surprisingly their show at the Dome has already sold out.

Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, Sat 24 Jan, 7.30pm, SOLD OUT

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