First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit, a Swedish indie folk duo cherished by fans around the globe, merge the luminous vocal harmonies and reflective, nature-inspired compositions of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg. Gaining Swedish radio exposure while still in their teens, the pair later reached charts throughout Europe along with the U.S. and Australia through releases such as The Lion's Roar (2012), Stay Gold (2014), and the breakup-themed Ruins (2018). Their fifth studio album, Palomino, arrived in 2022 as a brighter effort shaped by the polished 1980s sound of acts like Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty. Regularly joined onstage by supporting musicians, the group has mounted Leonard Cohen tribute performances, among them the 2021 set Who by Fire, and has interpreted material by Simon & Garfunkel, R.E.M., and Kate Bush.

Raised in suburban Enskede and drawing from artists including Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom, the Söderberg sisters began writing songs together in 2007 as young teenagers. Their home-recorded track “Tangerine” received Swedish airplay that summer, after which the debut EP Drunken Trees broadened their reach upon its April 2008 release. Wichita Records, based in London, reissued Drunken Trees the following year, adding a respectful Fleet Foxes cover plus three extra live recordings made in a Swedish woodland setting.

The duo next balanced academic commitments with sessions for a debut full-length, issuing The Big Black & the Blue in 2010. This led to an invitation from Jack White to cut a single at Third Man Studios, yielding their version of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier.” A friendship with Conor Oberst followed, bringing live appearances alongside Bright Eyes before the sisters recorded The Lion’s Roar with the band’s guitarist Mike Mogis; the album surfaced in early 2012. Rolling Stone ranked the lead single “Emmylou” tenth among the year’s best, while the LP topped the Swedish chart, entered several other territories, reached number 65 on the Billboard 200, and placed inside the Top Five of the Americana/folk listing in the U.S.

The creative tie with Oberst deepened in 2014 when the sisters contributed backing vocals to his solo album Upside-Down Mountain, the same year First Aid Kit issued Stay Gold, their first Columbia release. It claimed number one in both Sweden and Norway and registered inside the Top 25 across multiple European countries plus the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, later earning Album of the Year at Sweden’s Grammis. Following two years of touring, festival dates, and television spots—including a rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” on The Late Show with David Letterman—the duo traveled to Portland, Oregon, to track their fourth album with producer Tucker Martine. Backing players included R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Wilco’s Glen Kotche, and Midlake’s McKenzie Smith. Shaped by the end of Klara’s engagement, Ruins appeared on Columbia in early 2018, again topping Sweden, reaching the Top Five in the U.K. and Norway, and peaking at number 47 in the U.S. Material from those same sessions surfaced later that September as the Tender Offerings EP.

Although new First Aid Kit output remained limited over the next several years, accolades continued: the act earned nominations at the 2019 UK Americana Awards, the Brit Awards, and the Grammis. Health concerns forced cancellation of an extensive summer tour that year, yet three holiday performances in Stockholm proceeded. Johanna’s daughter was born in summer 2020 around the time of a charity single covering Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” In March 2021 the sisters released Who by Fire: Live Tribute to Leonard Cohen, drawn from their 2017 concerts celebrating the songwriter’s catalog. They appeared at England’s Glastonbury Festival in June 2022 while previewing songs from their fifth studio album. Conceived with the buoyant 1980s aesthetic of Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in view, Palomino emerged on Columbia that November. Their first Swedish-recorded album since the debut, it was produced by Daniel Bengtson at Studio Rymden in Stockholm.