Scandi sisters find a cure for heartbreak
THE new year is just under way, but its first big heartbreak album is already upon us. It comes from Swedish sister act First Aid Kit, who take a huge step forward on Ruins.
The collection retains the tuneful harmonies that first brought Klara and Johanna Söderberg to our attention ten years ago when they posted their teenage cover of a Fleet Foxes song online. But now, taking inspiration from the collapse of Klara’s engagement, they are a more grown-up proposition.
The songs are hard-bitten rather than winsome and twee, underpinned by horns, keyboards and the meaty presence of former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.
With a new producer at the helm in Tucker Martine, there’s also a rawness and immediacy to the duo’s fourth album that was absent from 2014’ s polished Stay Gold.
‘My life dictated what Ruins was about,’ says Klara, 25, who had been living with her former fiance in Manchester before heading home to Stockholm after things went wrong. ‘ It’s about the aftermath of a relationship — and it’s quite sad.’
The heartache is obvious from the off. ‘I was just a kid when I fell for you,’ sings Klara on bruised country lament Postcard before taking a more philosophical approach on It’s A Shame: ‘ There’s no point in wasting sorrow on things that won’t be here tomorrow.’
That song, performed live on last weekend’s Graham Norton show, contains references to LA sunshine, making it one of several tracks that look to America for embellishment. Guitar ballad Fireworks is set in Chicago.
Other numbers are punctuated by country- style finger-picking and pedal steel.
BUT for all their love of Americana, there’s a strand of Nordic cool at play here that sets First Aid Kit apart from musical peers such as Alabama duo The Pierces and Indiana siblings Lily And Madeleine. You can hear it in the precision and timing with which bassist and fellow vocalist Johanna, 27, augments her younger sister’s tales of romantic woe.
Putting invigorating twists on traditional country, folk and indierock, Ruins is a mature return.
It’s no wonder that Jack White, of The White Stripes, calls them simply ‘wonderful’.
FLEETWOOD MAC’s self-titled 1975 album was the calm before the storm of 1977’s Rumours.
It was made in just three months, shortly after drummer Mick Fleetwood had invited guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and his girlfriend Stevie Nicks to join, solidifying what would become the group’s best-selling line-up.
The arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, both gifted songwriters, eased the creative burden on keyboardist Christine McVie while adding dreamy Californian melodies to the band’s British blues foundations. The changes rejuvenated a band which had been treading water, setting a template not just for Rumours, but also for Seventies radio-rock as a whole.
This reissue comes in a range of formats, with a single Cd (£7), double album (£15) and five-disc boxed set (£46) all available, the latter two boosted by out-takes and live tracks.
Among the high points are two celebrated Nicks numbers — the melancholy Landslide, a snapshot of post-hippie yearning, and Rhiannon, described as ‘a song about an old Welsh witch’ by its writer.
With Buckingham’s driving West Coast guitars to the fore on Monday Morning, and Christine McVie supplying several soulful, bluesy love songs, the artistic scope is dazzling. The additional material is hit and miss. Other than the odd acoustic flourish or solo, the studio demos stick closely to the finished takes, while the live versions of Rhiannon and World Turning are overlong.
But a rollicking take on Blue Letter is punk-like in its energetic verve, and there are appreciative nods to the quintet’s blues roots in versions of Oh Well and The Green Manalishi. With the bedhopping excess of Rumours yet to come, these songs hark back to the fleeting moment when the Mac were in perfect harmony.
Both albums are out today. First Aid Kit start a UK tour at the Academy, Glasgow, on February 24 (ticketmaster.co.uk).