Life Is Swede (From Oxford Mail)

Life Is Swede

10:39am Thursday 25th February 2010 in

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Tim Hughes gets a dose of sweet musical medicine courtesy of harmonious folk-pop duo First Aid Kit.

THEY sound like Appalachian hillbillies and look like extras from the Little House on the Prairie, but sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg are far more at home among the lakes and forests of Scandinavia than the wide open spaces of America.

Wise and talented beyond their years, Klara, 16, and Johanna, 19 – otherwise known as First Aid Kit – are causing ripples of excitement way beyond their native Sweden.

Their sublime voices and haunting harmonies have seen the country-loving teenagers quietly winning over new fans, hypnotised by the gentle beauty of their sparse, dreamy and fragile arrangements, and often dark lyrics, which are evocative of a distant, possibly imagined past when everything seemed easier.

“That’s because we try to keep things simple,” says Klara, in her perfect English.

“We sing in harmonies with uncomplicated arrangements. It’s folk and it’s country but not really rock.

“We are inspired by old stuff – music from the '60s, ’70s and even before than that. And our music is relaxing – we don’t really put on a ‘show’.”

Following up their massive Drunken Trees EP with glorious debut album The Big Black and The Blue, and signed to the super-cool Wichita label, the sisters are currently midway through a UK tour, which on Wednesday sees them play Oxford’s Jericho Tavern. It’s hard to believe these self-taught girls have achieved so much in such a short time – being on the scene for just a year.

So when did they decide that this is what they wanted to do? “I have wanted to do this ever since I first heard Bright Eyes (US singer-songwriter Conor Oberst), Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen,” says Klara “When I was 13 I got my first guitar and learned a few chords, and while doing that, I started writing songs.

“And while I got better on guitar, Johanna played keyboard – and we both sang.”

While Sweden is ferociously hip right now, Klara and Johanna couldn’t sound more different from the pop, rock and electronica for which their homeland is acquiring an enviable reputation.

“Because we don’t have Swedish accents some people think we are trying to put something on and are pretending to be something we are not,” Klara complains. “But the opposite is true. If we started speaking [with Swedish accents] it would just be unnatural.”

So what’s it like touring with your sister? Any sibling rows? “Nothing big,” she says. “We sort things out.”

But while she comes across as utterly unfazed by the adoring fans and long tours way from home, she must find it strange that a 16-year-old, who is taking time off school, is achieving what so many other talented artists have failed to. For a start, she is technically too young to even enter many of the venues where she plays. And she certainly can’t drink.

“After the gigs we just meet the audience, leave, watch bad movies and go to sleep. It’s not rock ’n’ roll!”

First Aid Kit play the Jericho Tavern on Wednesday. Their album The Big Black and Blue is out now on Wichita Recordings