Album Review: Ruins, First Aid Kit

While their home country has produced a number of legendary acts over the years, Swedish folk-duo First Aid Kit take inspiration from further afield – ie. the rich musical heritage of the US. Indeed, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris loom large in their musical lexicon. Pure Appalachian vocal harmonies mingle with lap-steels, with occasional appearances from gentle acoustic guitars and mellow brass.

The sisters’ voices swoop and glide, like swallows on a spring morning – a spring-water balm for thirsty souls. It’s a familiar and soothing formula, if at times veering to the anodyne. Produced by Tucker Martine, recorded at Flora Studios in Portland, Oregon and featuring collaborations with REM’s Peter Buck, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, and Midlake’s McKenzie Smith, the pace is folksy and subdued for the most part. Except, that is, for the single ‘It’s A Shame’, where the record starts to bounce on the balls of its feet a bit.

Throughout, there’s a cosy sense of familiarity, like a pair of old slippers set before the hearthrug. The balladic ‘Fireworks’ is reminiscent of Skeeter Davis’s ‘End Of The World’, while on ‘Hem Of Her Dress’, there are echoes of ‘Fairytale Of New York’, were it sung by a boozy office party – having forgotten the words. ‘Nothing Has To Be True’, meanwhile, builds to an elegiac outro before dissolving into a cacophony of electronic crickets.

There’ll always be a place for music like this. Genetically imprinted on the western world’s subconscious, it tugs gently at our collective limbic system, whether we care to admit it or not.
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Rating: 7/10