First Aid Kit

I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June
If you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny too
No, I’m not asking much of you
Just sing little darling, sing with me

–from “Emmylou” by First Aid Kit

Austin City Limits Music Festival was this past weekend, and we watched a few of the artists live via YouTube.  And, to be totally honest, while I was trying to enjoy Jack White, I was, in actuality, falling head over heels in love with First Aid Kit, the pair of singing sisters from Sweden who also played at the show.

I’m a big country and folk music fan, and I tend to favor strong female artists like Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Neko Case, Patty Griffin, and The Dixie Chicks, just to name a few.  I love it when a singer is also a songwriter, so I was instantly intrigued with First Aid Kit’s gorgeous single, “Emmylou.”  It’s been playing on my local radio station for months, but something about it finally clicked in my head this past weekend.

And then I read a bit about the very young duo (they are practically babies!) from Sweden and I was immediately impressed.  Their sound is so pure and clear that it literally sounds like a bell ringing, and their lyrics are touching and haunting at the same time.  How is it possible that two young Swedish girls, barely out of their teens, can write and sing about the influential American duos, Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons and June Carter and Johnny Cash, with such beauty and grace?  They are true geniuses, in my mind.

Did I mention they are from Sweden?

I hope that you will watch their stunning performance and also check out a few of their other songs, too.  I think you will be as impressed as I was.

And as an interesting side note, when I watched First Aid Kit’s beautifully-filmed video for “Blue,” I recognized the main character as Ewa Fröling, who plays the older version of Harriet Vanger in the Millenium Series.