Fresh-of-face Swedish duo First Aid Kit have been turning heads with their sweet and lo-fi folk songs these last few months, and have now officially released their ‘Drunken Trees’ EP in the UK via Wichita.
The sisters – Johanna and Klara Söderberg – hail from Stockhlm, and while both are children of the 1990s, their music possesses a wisdom, a certain soul, that typically only comes with plentiful life experience. Think lyrics that weave entrancing narratives combined with music that’s subtly engaging and sweetly affecting.
A full album is expected in the autumn of 2009, and the sisters will be playing in the UK between now and then. Clash dropped them a few questions to accompany our lovely exclusive video of the pair performing their song ‘Our Own Pretty Ways’. Nice, nice.
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Hello. Can you please begin by telling us something about the band that might not be on the press releases/biography information doing the rounds?
Klara has diabetes and Johanna used to collect Japanese pop CDs.
How have you found playing to UK crowds these past few months?
It’s been wonderful; we never imagined we’d ever play abroad.
Are you interested in playing unconventional spaces? Do you think the environment around a performer is important?
Yeah, it’s pretty important, obviously. We prefer playing in smaller venues because you can get good contact with the audience.
Can you tell us about your debut album proper? How will it be a progression from the ‘Drunken Trees’ EP?
Well we’re just writing it right now and starting to record it so we don’t really know how it will turn out. We’re not trying to change our sound from the EP; we just want to write good songs.
Is it strange to see ‘Drunken Trees’ promoted as a new record in the UK, when it must seem a lot older to you? Are you thrilled, though, that now so many more people will get to hear it?
Not strange, really. It was released almost a year ago now in Sweden, but as you said, we’re just thrilled to get it out, and that more people will hear it. If we had made that EP/mini album now it would sound different.
Do you feel it’s important that people do not see you as the ‘finished product’ yet, given both your age and release history? There’s much more to come from First Aid Kit yet, I imagine…
We don’t want people to think that we’re going to be really good in a couple of years, we want people to like our music now, and not to say “this could be good some day”.
What does the near future hold for the band? More touring/recording? When will we see you playing a full UK tour, beyond the PB&J dates? Any festival plans?
Right now we’re just trying to finish school and record the album. Maybe get a drummer/percussionist… we’d love to do a full UK tour but we should get the album out first. We’re going to do some festivals this summer, but we can’t tell you which ones yet…
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First Aid Kit support Peter Bjorn & John in the UK and Ireland as follows…
March
5 London Scala
6 Manchester Academy 2
7 Dublin Button Factory
