America is exotic: Sweden’s First Aid Kit brings their folk-pop sound to the National Sunday

by | Oct 24, 2014 | MUSIC

While the public opinion on the recent folk rock movement can be pretty divided, you’d still be hard pressed to find people who don’t love sweet, straight-up Americana. What’s even better is when you have that pristine sound done by people born thousands of miles away from its namesake, which is certainly the case in Sweden’s First Aid Kit.

While the public opinion on the recent folk rock movement can be pretty divided, you’d still be hard pressed to find people who don’t love sweet, straight-up Americana. What’s even better is when you have that pristine sound done by people born thousands of miles away from its namesake, which is certainly the case in Sweden’s First Aid Kit. Made up of sisters Johanna & Klara Söderberg, First Aid Kit isn’t a band easily labeled, something cemented by their latest album, released this year, entitled Stay Gold. Despite those difficulties, it is extremely easy to pinpoint that beating heart of genuine songwriting in their music. Whether the arrangement is folk-based with a string quartet or pop-structured with a clap-your-hands melody, the sisters’ musical sincerity is always front and center as it steals your heart and infects your ears.

This Sunday, First Aid Kit will come to Richmond for the first time ever when they play at The National. Before their show, the sweet and truly pragmatic Söderberg sisters took the time to talk to me about everything from what about America makes it so exotic to Sweden’s most nefarious bands.

Now, Stay Gold is definitely a lot bigger on the compositions than The Lion’s Roar was. How did this change happen?

Klara: It just feel like the songs needed it. We didn’t set out to make a record with these real, intricate arrangements. We just talked about each individual song and what we thought would fit. From there, we just tried it with a lot of them and realized that it sounded really good. We liked the vibe of the songs so we kept them. It just so happened that it carried on throughout the album.

What’s it been like transitioning these songs to a live setting?

Johanna: We thought it would be really challenging, but it actually turned out to be the opposite. We’re a four piece on stage right now so we don’t have any strings, but the songs really come alive when we play them live. It really does clean up well. It’s a different type of vibe. We keep it simple and our live show is pretty simple which is great because that’s just the way we like it. It’s all about our vocals being the center of the songs, as opposed to just this wall of sound and I think that will always be the case, as opposed to trying to recreate every detail on stage.

Now, you did this record and the last in the same place with the same producer: Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes in Omaha. Was it weird to get two completely different records from the exact same setting?

Klara: No, for us it felt really natural. Honestly, we thought that we had unfinished business in Omaha. We weren’t done when we did Lion’s Roar. We had already started talking about this record when we were there recording Lion’s Roar. I felt really good and comfortable with Mike, and we could also experiment a little bit more because we knew each other so much better. We think he’s the best and we can’t really think of a producer that we know as well as him that we love. He totally gets it, and us. We definitely want to work with him in the future, but it kind of depends on what kind of songs we write and what we feel fits. Right now, I can’t see why we wouldn’t, but we’re just going to have to see.

On top of Mike, you also got to hang out with Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes and do some stuff for his new record. How was that?

Klara: It was awesome. We were lucky that we recorded Stay Gold at the same time he was recording [Upside Down Mountain]. We were in A Studio in Omaha and he was in B Studio. We could just pop in whenever he needed some harmony stuff, so we did it and just kind of improvised. It was just so much fun. We’re such huge fans of Conor and Mike, and right now we’re really good friends.

Johanna: Of course, there will always be a part of us that holds on to how much they meant to us. At the same time though, when you’re with them, they’re just our friends. You can’t really think about them in any other way at that moment. I love hanging out with them in Omaha.

So besides Omaha, what places in America do you feel at home in?

Johanna: Hopefully Richmond! Really though, Minneapolis has a really large Swedish ancestry and population so that’s a place where people will come to us after shows and say, “Our family’s from Sweden.” We also love Portland.

Klara: And Austin!

Johanna: Really, we don’t feel like home when we’re in the States though. It’s so exotic to us.

Klara: Yeah, like we’ve spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, but it’s still very exotic. It will always be exotic to us which is why we really like being here.

Johanna: It’s strangely familiar, but also really exciting. It’s like being in a movie for us almost.

I recently found out that your father does a lot for your band, including touring with you and producing the first record. How is that relationship, considering the sordid history of parental involvement in musical careers?

Klara: I think a lot of those stories are because the parents sort of make them make music, or that was the reason they started. For us, our parents have always been supportive, but we totally did it on our terms and we did what we wanted. We were just really lucky that we had a dad that played music or who could play music. He was in this great band called Lolita Pop. He’s also a great producer and a great sound technician, so he’s with us on tour. We want him there, you know? Definitely not the other way around. Our mother too. She doesn’t play music or sing or anything, but she’s involved. Everyone in our family is involved – it’s a family business. She’s there and supports us, and when we have big decision, we have family meetings to get through them. I couldn’t imagine doing it without them.

I know you’re both big fans of Townes Van Zandt. What about him speaks to you?

Klara: I’m really bad about describing why I love something, which is why I love it so much; because there’s something indescribable about it that’s so moving. For us, he’s just one of the best songwriters of all time. There’s a darkness in his music that I find really beautiful and alluring. I think all of his songs are just classic. I think everyone can relate to them. We love his voice as well, and he’s a great guitarist. There’s just a kind of mood in his songs that’s just really interesting and powerful, but outside of that, his music is just indescribable.

So where do you guys feel like you fall on the musical spectrum? Closer to that country sound from Townes, or just a straight folk sound?

Johanna: I wouldn’t say we’re either. Honestly, we don’t listen to country that much, even though we could talk all day about Townes. I think that people make us more of a country act than we are. We probably listen to more folk music than anything.

Klara: Definitely more folk.

Johanna: But we don’t think about it when we’re listening to it. Is this country? Is this folk? We don’t think about it. We listen to either as well as all sorts of music.

Klara: For us, that’s not interesting and that’s not why we make music. I understand that people have to put you in this box labeled with a specific genre, but for us, we’re not interested in that. I just want to make what I want. It’s the same way back home, but I think it’s just the world.

Johanna: It’s a human thing.

Klara: Everyone does it. You just want to understand things, but it ends up limiting things in the long run. If you say we’re a folk or country duo, that’s not all that we are, and we have influences from other things as well.

Johanna: We don’t think of our music in genres, so we feel free to do whatever our songs call for. Whatever genre they happen to be written in, that’s what we go for. Let people say what they want about us, we’ll just do our thing regardless.

So talk to me about the Swedish music scene.

Johanna: It’s alive, of course. Thriving more than anything. A lot of electronic and pop music. The Swedish scene is huge, especially carrying over into the States, and we were inspired by that growing up. The fact that we’re this little, isolated country from Europe, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t play outside and have an international career. We’re kind of a tight knit community here. Everyone knows each other and supports each other and it’s great.

Growing up, I know you guys listened to a lot of American music, but what in Sweden really stuck with you?

Johanna: Of course, ABBA.

Klara: Yeah, you could never overlook them.

Johanna: They were just this huge thing and kind of always will be back home. I also listen to a lot of The Knife and The Cardigans and The Hives.

Klara: It’s also artists that people in America would have never heard of and if I say their names, you might not know how to spell or pronounce their names. Just like folk singers from Sweden. Of course, I like music in Swedish as well. You know, hopefully we can one day write a song that’s popular in Swedish instead of English.

Weird question, but what’s a band in Sweden that’s pretty popular, but also pretty despised? Basically, what’s the Swedish version of Nickelback?

Johanna: There’s a couple. There’s a band called Hoffmaestro that are really popular, but a lot of people look down on them. They’re sort of like Nickelback in that regard.

Klara: Oh, what is that other band? They really sound like Nickelback. What is their name? They do the song, what is it, “Carly Sue?”

Johanna: Oh, Takida. That’s our real Nickelback. Critics hate them and they write the worst reviews like “I’ll kill myself if I ever hear this song ever again.” I hate to talk negatively, but it’s pretty well known that they get some really horrible reviews.

To wrap up, what would you think if in ten years, “Emmylou” is still looked at as your band’s signature song?

Johanna: I’m not sure. Probably mixed feelings. I think that’s just what happens to some bands, so it might happen to us. When we play shows, that’s a song that most people will know, but I feel like people come to hear us play for all of the songs, not just “Emmylou,” so it’s not like people come exclusively to hear that song. But that’s just what happens.

Klara: If that would happen though, there are worse songs to have as our signature song. We love playing it, even if it’s the thousandth time.

Johanna: It’s more fun to play because people really like it and are very appreciative of it. We’re never going to be the band who doesn’t play the song everyone wants to hear. I think it’s kind of ridiculous when you have a song and you don’t play it, it’s being rude to the audience almost. We love “Emmylou” still. I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of it. Hopefully though, we’ll have a lot more songs in ten years that connect with people like “Emmylou” did. Otherwise, what have we really done?

—-

First Aid Kit perform this Sunday at The National with Samantha Crain opening. Doors open at 8 PM and find out ticket information by clicking here.

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




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