The first time I heard the voices of Klara and Johanna Söderberg, I was a Fleet Foxes-crazed teenager feverishly searching for live videos of the Seattle folk band on YouTube. Somewhere in the depths of this wormhole I stumbled upon the Söderberg sisters’ viral cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and was completely floored. In the video, they sit in the middle of some Swedish forest wearing flannel and singing in mystical harmonies that fit together like Lincoln Logs.
In 2010 they signed to Wichita and released their debut LP as First Aid Kit, The Big Black and the Blue, an album of simple, twee folk songs that didn’t quite manage to recreate the magic of their YouTube breakthrough. But the Söderbergs hit their stride with 2012’s The Lion’s Roar, a country-folk record with more opportunities to let their voices soar over pedal steel guitar, fiddle, hand-clapped rhythms, and Johanna’s Autoharp. The chorus of its second track, “Emmylou,” plays like a laundry list of influences: “I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June/If you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny too.”
First Aid Kit’s major label debut, 2014’s Stay Gold, moved into even twangier territory with radio-ready anthems like “My Silver Lining” and “Heaven Knows.” It’s funny that two Swedes got famous for singing Fleet Foxes better than Fleet Foxes, and stayed famous for singing country better than a lot of American country artists. Sweden’s got something going on right now; singer/songwriter and guitarist Daniel Norgren also hails from the Nordic nation, and his aurora borealis blues hypnotized audiences at Pickathon 2016.
First Aid Kit just released their fourth album, Ruins, which they recorded right here in Portland with producer Tucker Martine at his studio, Flora Recording and Playback, backed by some notable guests: R.E.M.’s Peter Buck on guitar, and Wilco’s Glen Kotche and Midlake’s McKenzie Smith on percussion. The sisters have another Portland connection: They contributed backing vocals on local singer/songwriter Alela Diane’s forthcoming record, Cusp. Thank the YouTube gods the Söderbergs emerged from that Swedish forest—apparently, we needed to be shown how it’s done.