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Artist: First Aid Kit
Album: Drunken Trees EP
Label: Rabid Records
Release Date: April 9, 2008
Some musicians make use of the advantages afforded by their symbiotic relationships. First Aid Kit—a Stockholm-based duo comprised of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg—are certainly one of them. Their debut Drunken Trees EP, which was released via the Knife's Rabid Records, exemplifies the surreal properties innate to flesh and blood.
To some extent, their pitch-perfect, folk-inflected tunes are indicative of the uncanny, rather primitive bond between siblings. And while still relatively inchoate, First Aid Kit utilize the partnership better than most, Eisley and the Watson Twins included.
Songs like "You're Not Coming Home Tonight" find the Söderberg sisters bouncing Johnny Cash-like melodies off of each other with utmost certainty. The honeyed harmonies, lavishly layered directly atop one another, suggest an inimitable quality. For it is the cooperative interaction coursing through their veins and, consequently, their spirited songs that sets First Aid Kit apart from the rest.
First Aid Kit - "You're Not Coming Home Tonight"
Furthermore, Drunken Trees demonstrates how a familial synergy can strengthen songwriting. And there is an absolute give and take that is present, which pulls at the heartstrings, demanding an open ear and an open mind.
