First Aid Kit Release Jack White-Produced Single and Free Download

Breathtaking Swedish Folk duo First Aid Kit will be releasing a single as part of Jack White's Third Man Records Blues Series. The series has already produced 7 inches from the likes of Wanda Jackson and Laura Marling, all produced by the White Stripe himself.

First Aid Kit's contribution will be a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier” and will be released on January 18 2011.

Check out a free download of their Sydney Show here

First Aid Kit - The Big Black And The Blue (Wichita)

Gosh the two Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg that make up First Aid Kit don’t half know how to tug at those heartstrings. One listen was all I needed for their phenomenally beautiful single ‘Hard Believer’ to make their way to the top of my most wanted list with their heavenly dual vocals and country tinged folk and I’m delighted to say that when their album finally dropped on my doorstep that the rest of it is just as magnificent as that first track.

The Big Black And The Blue seems to disregard any of their Scandinavian roots instead hitting on an alt country style echoing the sort of sound resonating from Seattle at the moment with various homage’s to folk and country legends of the past and their obvious adoration for such sounds new and old it’s hard to believe that these two girls were both born in the nineties (making them both younger than me which is kind of scary) especially when listening to their lyrics, tales of loves lost and heartbreak stories that should generally be beyond their years but nonetheless their lyricism is generally bang on the money and something of a strong point. Their sound can be very minimal at times with delicate guitar picking and the occasional bit of flute of vox with the sound completely driven by the duos astonishing vocal harmonies, from the yodelling of ‘Waltz For Richard’ to the dirty, passionate growls that end ‘I Met Up With A King.’ It sways between the light folk of tracks such as ‘A Window Opens’ to the haunting ballad of ‘Ghost Town’ which melody has the power to take the listener away, far away and you do tend to lose yourself in the melody.

When talking about the album the sisters have said “We aim for the hearts, not the charts” which is an apt quote but with an album as lush and pure as this I don’t see why they wouldn’t make a bit of a storm in the charts seeing as how so many of their predecessors (Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes) have hit the ground running. The talents of these two girls is still so underexposed and I hope that The Big Black And The Blue gets the exposure it deserves.

Single Of The Week - First Aid Kit - Hard Believer

Wichita Records have a talent for producing some of the best indie around, of recent years seeing the likes of Los Campesinos, Sky Larkin, Les Savy Fav and, of course Bloc Party gain huge success.
Now with recent signings First Aid Kit I'm sure they are planning great things and with a single as beautiful as this they are certainly off to a great start.
Hard Believer follows on from their debut ep released earlier this year, Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg sure know how to write some great music. The acoustic, alt country sound is hard to get right and these two have nailed it.
Their brilliantly layered vocal harmonies that sound purely heavenly caught me the first time I heard it, the simple guitar/piano combo builds up to an unexpectedly epic and uplifting chorus which left me wanting to listen to it over and over again.