First Aid Kit - Drunken Trees

(Wichita)

ALT.FOLK

A curse on all precociously talented youth. With a combined age still several years less than this reviewer’s, the two teenage Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg have produced an astonishing debut, brimming with confidence, exuberance and, most importantly, absolutely killer tunes.

Fleet Foxes and Bright Eyes are the influences here, mixed with a cutesy lo-fi aesthetic and sibling harmonies to die for, the mood switching from beguiling (‘Our Own Pretty Ways’) to melancholic (‘Jagadamba, You Might’) to heartbreaking (‘Pervigilo’) and most emotional points in between. Simply a startling debut, showcasing youthful brio and mature songwriting in equal measure. Kids, eh?