For Folk's Sake » First Aid Kit

Album | First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Joe Skrebels — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:30:28 +0000

“There’s nothing new under the sun / All that will happen has already begun”

Sometimes you don’t need to say a lot to get a point across. In this simple couplet from the dark, tidal ‘Dance To Another Tune’, First Aid Kit acknowledge the entire problem of their second album. On the other hand, just as the song it comes from suddenly breaks into a sun-dappled reverie, that very acknowledgement reveals the album’s greatest strength by the same token.

But perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise; First Aid Kit have always been a paradoxical band. As a folk act, stereotypes immediately flash up – pastoral Britain or Midwestern America, obscure studio locations, analogue recordings. But then you realise that these are two sisters from a Stockholm suburb who became famous through what was essentially a viral campaign things don’t seem to add up. The solution then, is that the Söderberg sisters don’t struggle to make them add up, they just make the troublesome equation seem irrelevant by being supremely talented mimics.

After a first album undertaken more or less by themselves, Johanna and Klara recruited a band and set about making an album that sounds like every single one of their heroes – and they’re telling their audience throughout. Ranging from the overt, in ‘Emmylou’s name checking of the couples of folk’s past (“June” and “Johnny” for example), to the more oblique, with the tragically upbeat Mitchell-isms of ‘Blue’, and the frankly speculative (it’s perhaps unlikely that they’re bemoaning the absence of new Antipodean throwback rock albums as they sing “Wolf mother, where you been?”), this is an album packed with nods, winks and homage to those they borrow from as they go along.

Frankly, this would be a problem if it wasn’t made clear that this was the point, but as you take in the sheer flair of the blustering title track or the sparse, magnificent echoes of ‘New Years Eve’, it doesn’t matter anymore. In fact, it’s ultimately jarring to hear “Stockholm’s cold but I’ve been told I was born to endure this kind of weather”, because it becomes so easy to sink into the warm fantasy world the band have created. As if as testament to their validity, some recognisable folk heroes turn up to endorse the band with their talents on the final track as The Felice Brothers and Conor Oberst lend their weight to ‘King of the World’.

Ultimately, that idea that “there’s nothing new under the sun” is First Aid Kit’s greatest boon on The Lion’s Roar. Once you accept that what you’re listening to is a knowing pastiche of all the acts the band have grown up with, it becomes much easier to accept that what they’re doing is, in many ways, just as good. The songs are wonderful, the execution perfect and, most importantly, the act seamless – this sounds just like a classic country-folk album and, when you think about it, that more or less makes it one.

News | First Aid Kit Reveal Brand New Official Video.

Ellie Rumbold — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:14:28 +0000

First Aid Kit.

First Aid Kit have revealed the official video for their brand new single “Emmylou” (to be featured on their upcoming album titled “The Lion’s Roar” which will be released on the 23rd January).

The track is set for release on the 14th Feb via Witchita Records, and the pair (aka Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg) have dedicated the song to some of their all time favourite musicians including Emmylou Harris and Johnny Cash. In fact, the video was even filmed on Gram Parsons’ birthday!

Following this, the band are heading over to glorious England for a six-date tour in February. Grab yourself some tickets whilst you still can.

23 Feb / London, King’s College
24 Feb / Manchester, Academy 3
25 Feb / Dublin, Workman’s Club
27 Feb / Glasgow, King Tut’s
28 Feb / Leeds, The Wardrobe
29 Feb / Bristol, Thekla

See here for tickets.

Words: Ellie Rumbold.

Interview | For Folk’s Sake meets First Aid Kit

For Folk's Sake — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:29:23 +0000

First Aid Kit are born performers. As I’m ushered through Bush Hall past the photos of the golden greats past and present, and into the Green Room which has seen the presence of Amy Winehouse, REM, Alanis Morrisette, Feist, Regina Spektor and many others, it seems like they should be there.

The young sisters have a confidence and an intelligence that belies their age, and performing comes naturally to them. Older sister Johanna remembers some of their early shows: from the age of about five they were putting on concerts for friends, family and neighbours, even down to making and selling tickets. They’re so used to being on stage that nerves don’t phase them. They’ve performed to audiences of thousands, and they’ve even sung one of Patti Smith’s best songs to a huge audience which included the lady herself.

Johanna and Klara are coming to the end of an intense year of touring. They’ve been on the road for over a month now, touring with Lykke Li in November, and before that, Bright Eyes in September. I catch them in the middle of a four-day dash between Berlin, London, Paris and Amsterdam.

But they wouldn’t have it any other way. ”Playing live for people is such a giving experience for us. Seeing how people react to the songs and sing them when they know the lyrics,” Klara says. “It’s such a huge compliment to you, it makes you want to make more music and go on.”

FAK rose to prominence with their cover of Fleet Foxes’ ‘Tiger Mountain Pleasant Song’, which recently hit 2.5M views on Youtube. But it was Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst who has been been one of their great supporters. Johanna explains, ”We’re on Wichita [Recordings] here in the UK, and they released Bright Eyes’ early records in Europe and so we had that connection, and [Bright Eyes] played in Stockholm with Monsters of Folk and so we gave them our CD, and I think that’s where [Conor] heard us. And then he came to our show one year later in Austin, Texas. We were totally…”

“We freaked out, to be honest”, Klara elucidates.

“And then Mike [Mogis, Bright Eyes member and producer] just wrote to us saying he wanted to produce a record,” Johanna continues.

I asked them what it was like to tour with a band as big as Bright Eyes on their visit to the southern US. “It really is the best tour we’ve ever done.”

“There are no words, ” Klara chirps, “We got to hang out with our favourite band, who we’d play with every night.”

Johanna expands, ”We were not really like an opening act, we were more a part of their band. And after each show, we just stayed at the venue and had champagne… it was a big party every night. I think most bands wouldn’t be like that, you know, friendly with their opening act.”

“We found that they were just amazing, sweet people, they were really so passionate still about their music. They’ve been playing for such a long time, but it was just so sweet to see how they felt for their fans.”

“And how every night they went out because there were fans waiting by the tour bus, and they would go out and talk to them, and give them the treatment that they wanted.”

Bright Eyes formerly had a reputation of being rude and arrogant, but Klara is quick to point out that those times seem to be behind them: ”It was really nice seeing it for yourself and seeing that they are the complete opposite of arrogant and rude.”

First Aid Kit also embarked on a transatlantic tour with Lykke Li, I asked them how it compared to their autumn run. ”They were different. She is very different musically, but it was interesting because we felt like the responses of the crowds were equally good, despite her audience being so different and people that who would never to listen to us in the first place, liked us. It was really rewarding to see that you won the crowds over every night.”

These large tours, in bigger venues, and to bigger crowds, gave FAK a taste of their future. “It feels kind of weird now playing in the smaller venues, because we’ve gotten so used to that big sound. But it’s good to know that our music works in that setting as well. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to play our own shows there.”

They also featured on the Letterman Show as part of Lykke Li’s band, a performance which reached an audience of millions.

First Aid Kit recorded their second album in early summer, under the experienced eyes of producer Mike Mogis. ‘The Lion’s Roar’ will be out in the UK in January 2012. Johanna is keen to let me know that, ”writing songs and hearing them come to life in the studio is magical. You can’t really beat that.”

They were especially comfortable to be working with Mogis. ”Coming in and recording this record with Mike was just… knowing that he thought it was so good, it made us believe it even more.”

“We lost all concept of pressure because we felt that he would not release something he wouldn’t consider good enough, and therefore it was it going to be good.”

Their first album, ‘The Big Black and the Blue’ is an opus filled with tight vocal harmonies and catchy choruses, but it was only coolly received by the critics due, mainly it seems, to its musical simplicity. It was released two years ago,
and FAK’s sound has developed since then. Johanna says: ”I think that’s what we were able to do at the time. But I feel like I can barely listen to it now… it’s really hard. I can really hear that we’ve become better singers, and just better in every way. But I think when we go back to it… I’m not like ashamed of it. I think it’s good, but I feel like we were different then.”

Klara agrees, ”I think it’s probably because it’s still so close, but still feels like it’s far away. I feel like we’re still in this middle place, where we’re so excited about this new record it’s hard to listen to [the previous one]. When I listen to it, it’s very apparent to me who I was trying to sound like in some ways. And I feel like I hadn’t really found my own voice, and that’s something that’s not a problem any more. We both feel like we know when we sing now we’re not trying to sound like anyone else.”

‘The Lion’s Roar’ promises to be as vocally strong as the first album, and carries the same lyrical themes of fantasy and storytelling: ‘The Big Black and the Blue’ told stories of husbands cheating on wives and other experiences Johanna and Klara had not been through directly.

‘The Lion’s Roar’ will be similar, as Johanna explains, ”We’re singing as a warning to ourselves about who we don’t want to become. Like, we have a song called ‘Blue’ about this woman who is alone…”

Klara interjects, ”It’s us dealing with this fear of becoming these middle-aged woman who regret what we didn’t do. We’re ending up lonely, despite doing everything we can not to. I feel like that can happen to anyone, and those songs are just our way of dealing with that fear.”

‘Blue’ is an example of the more evolved sound of FAK, too, ”[It] has more of a pop, like 60s, kind of sound. ‘Dance To Another Tune’ is a song where we kind of freaked out a bit. We did a bit of a crazy section, psychedelic with strings. Just tried to move out of our comfort zone a bit. And of course, ‘King of the World’ with Conor Oberst, was a big deal for us. The song is… the Felice Brothers are also playing on it, so it’s this…”

“Collaboration…”

“Yeah, it’s like we’re having a party. Everyone just steps in, and I love how it turned out.” Klara says, ”I feel like we could say this about every single song on the album. This song we really like because of this, and this, and that’s really how we feel about it. There’s not one song we aren’t really proud of. We feel like they all have a lot to say. We’re really proud of them individually and as a whole.”

The future is looking bright for First Aid Kit, and at ages of 21 and 18, there’s plenty of time left for musical development. “I feel like we’re evolving, and doing new stuff. We’re going to do it as long as it’s fun, and it’s a lot of fun right now, so I don’t see us quitting any time soon,” Klara says.

Johanna is of the same mind, ”The thing that we think is awesome is that we’re still very young, so we don’t really know what’s going to happen, and how we’re going to sound in 10 years. It could be really interesting.”

FAK’s album, ‘The Lion’s Roar’ is out on 24 January 2012, and they will be embarking upon a European tour in February, followed by a trip to Australia and a further tour of the US in March and April.

Words and pictures: Paul Woods

Singles Round-up | We Are Augustines, Mozart Parties, Vadoinmessico, The Twilight Sad, Sam Brookes and First Aid Kit

For Folk's Sake — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:53:02 +0000

We Are Augustines – Book of James

This reminds me of the emotional fervour of Mumford & Sons with less righteousness, more of an incantation than a battlecry. Inspired by family and loss, it’s a eulogy to lead singer Billy McCarthy’s brother, who suffered from mental illness. It’s raw, powerful, and almost uncomfortably personal, yelping in pain. Though it’s rousing, there are no easy platitudes (“I tried the bible, I tried the bottle”), only a kind of catharsis through forgiveness. It’s undeniably powerful and moving; it looks like this band will go far.

Mozart Parties – Black Cloud

A song about depression, fuzzy around the edges, coccooned and soothing. A bit like The Beta Band’s ‘ MOZART PARTIES – BLACK CLOUD by Merok Records

Vadoinmessico – Teeo

Completely lovely, welcome and warming. Vadoinmessico is made up of musicians from Mexico, Italy, Austria and London, and far-away influences show; it’s like being transported to a distant and sunny island. The lead singer’s voice is so sweet that at first I assumed he was a she; the words are deliberately indistinct, which could be annoying, but here the haziness gives a daydreaming feel, as if he is singing to himself on a journey. It’s beautiful, and a great escape on a cold winter night.

The Twilight Sad – Sick

Next up, this track has gentle echoes of Muse, but sung with a thick Scottish accent, which can only be good thing. Synths sometimes grate in a song that might be stronger in a more stripped down and bare recording, as the core of it is tough and can hold its own; it’s gutsier than its title, not feeble. I wasn’t completely won over, but reports of ear-splittingly loud gigs suggest this is only a taster of what The Twilight Sad can do.

Sam Brookes – Forever Absent

‘Forever Absent’ has a line that bothers me a bit: “You’ve gotta hold on to what you believe, cause others may not see what you see”. Given that beliefs can be founded in anything from justice to dogged hate, I’m more a fan of crippling self-doubt now and then. But Sam Brookes’ voice is so extraordinary, so instantly impressive, that it’s hard to berate the odd lyrical loophole. Besides, the beliefs he’s referring to mostly invoke the beauty of the stars.

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

I’ve long liked First Aid Kit’s music, which is raucous, heartfelt and pure, though it can risk getting weighed down by sheer earnestness. If you haven’t yet seen their cover of Fleet Foxes, you obviously need to now. This first release from their upcoming album The Lion’s Roar suggests that they’re continuing in much the same vein as The Big Black and the Blue, but there’s nothing wrong with that: this is as precociously talented, spirited and dramatic as ever, their sisterly harmonies urgent and compelling, with a swirling chorus.

Words: Becky Varley-Winter

News | First Aid Kit Unveil Official New Video.

Ellie Rumbold — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:33:52 +0000

First Aid Kit.

First Aid Kit, aka: the lovely sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg, have just released the official video for their stunning new track “The Lion’s Roar”. The single is the title track off their forthcoming album set for realease on the 5th December 2011 via Wichita Records, produced by Mike Mogis.

For video: see here.

The two sisters are currently supporting Lykke Li on her UK tour, and are planning to return to Bush Hall for a headline show on Tuesday 6th December.

For Tickets: see here.

The new album is the follow up to their 2010 debut album ‘The Big Black and the Blue’. Recorded in the US, the new album contrasts sadness and beauty within the traditions of folk and country music. With references of Stockholm (their home town) and long dark Scandinavian winters, the pair have combined traditional folk with a backdrop of beautiful country-rock swing.

All of us here at FFS look forward to the new release, and for those of you too eager to wait, a sneak peek of the album awaits you on Wichita Records’ SoundCloud.

Words: Ellie Rumbold.

Blog: For Folk’s Sake Radio – if you don’t like lovely, you won’t like this

Lynn Roberts — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:20:53 +0000

On Sunday I popped down to London Fields Radio to record the first ever FFS radio show in a cafe against a background of the clatter of crockery and the hum of Hackney-ites chatting.

There’ll be a monthly-or-thereabouts show from now on, with the next one being probably the most Christmassy radio show of all time.

That chap you can hear is my friend Mark Higgins, who as well as being a nice man, knows how to produce a radio show. He has his own show called Bitter Fingers, also on London Fields Radio.

I think I probably said about 25 different things were lovely over the course of the hour, so if that will annoy you, certainly don’t listen to the show here…

For Folk’s Sake, Vol. 1 by Londonfieldsradio on Mixcloud

What we played…

Pirates’ Gospel by Alela Diane

BIT OF BRIAN: Brian’s Playlist #26 – Down in One

I Drink by Charles Aznavour
This isn’t on Brian’s playlist, because it’s not on Spotify (has anyone else gone off Spotify a bit recently?) but in the words of Bob Dylan it is “a devastating drinking song by the Frank Sinatra of France”. The lyrics are brilliantly cutting.
We Were Wasted by the Leisure Society
If you didn’t listen to the words of this pretty song, you’d never guess it was about getting home drunk after a night out. According to frontman Nick Hemming, The Leisure Society are in the final stages of recording their second album. I cannot WAIT to hear it.

Feet of Courage by Nancy Elizabeth

Robots by Dan Mangan
FFS-er Stephen Thomas interviewed Dan Mangan after his Union Chapel gig back in October. Read it here.

ALBUM OF THE SHOW: Sea of Bees – Songs for the Ravens

Sidepain by Sea of Bees
Sea of Bees is the marvellous Jules Baenziger from Sacramento, California. She records with producer and very nice man John Baccigaluppi. There’s an interview Anika Mottershaw and I did with the pair of them coming soon on FFS. Jules will be back in the UK in January. Check out dates on her MySpace.

Tiger Mountain Peasant Song by First Aid Kit

INFLUENCES: Neutral Milk Hotel and Laura Marling

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
Made By Maid by Laura Marling
Laura Marling’s old MySpace cited NMH as one of her influences. I see that as a good excuse to play both Laura Marling AND Neutral Milk hotel and call it a feature.

O Little Town of Bethlehem by Emily & the Woods
Here we have a little sneak preview of our forthcoming charity Christmas album For Folk’s Sake It’s Christmas. Emily & the Woods recorded a gorgeous version of this carol for the album – and if those harmonies don’t make you swoon you are surely dead inside. Read our recent interview with Emily here.

Dance Music by the Mountain Goats

Festival: Green Man

For Folk's Sake — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:24:18 +0000

The ladies of First Aid Kit

The Green Man promised magic and he didn’t disappoint.

Once again the organisers pulled off the spectacular trick of attracting the friendliest festival crowd to the most laid-back festival there is, while enticing some of the weirdest and most wonderful bands out there to perform.

Manchester krautrockers Plank get the party started in fine style over in the Far Out tent, while heirs to Hefner’s geek-pop throne, Wave Pictures, are the first of many great acts to grace the main stage.
Travel disruption sees Mountain Man miss their main-stage slot; they are replaced by the idiosyncratic but weirdly compelling songs of Sweet Baboo (check his track ‘Who Would Have Thought’ for evidence) and the wonderful Caitlin Rose, who looks a little nervous on the big stage but plays her heart out. When Mountain Man do eventually take to the intimate Green Man Pub stage, their intricate harmonies impress but are perhaps not quite as mind-blowing as hoped for.

The Majestic Ms. Marling.

That particular honour goes first to Steve Mason, who delivers a confident set that includes classic Beta Band and King Biscuit Time tracks (‘Dry the Rain’ and ‘No Style’ respectively). The fans are thrilled and the newcomers are impressed. Fuck Buttons follow and they drop an immense set of looping and building multi-textured behemoths as only they can.

Where to go from there? An Horse are playing their hearts out at the GM Pub, while Doves are plodding and pounding through their back catalogue in a vaguely stirring way. Time for bed.

Come Saturday, the sun has come out (as have a sea of blankets and festival chairs) and normality is restored. Welsh warhorses El Goodo kick things off on the main stage, wearing their Super Furry influences proudly on their ragtag sleeves, and Race Horses also represent the home nation proudly with their Gorky-esque indie-pop.

Over in the Far Out, the absurdly young Egyptian Hip Hop kids impress with their gothy rock, Voice of the Seven Thunders feel slightly anonymous in comparison, and Summer Camp arrive like a summer breeze with their pre-meditated, almost sycophantic ode to 80s pop, but are fantastic with it.

Elizabeth Sankey of Summer Camp

Avi Buffalo show enough potential to suggest good things may yet come from them, while These New Puritans are just a bit miserable and, well, puritanical to really go down well in these idyllic environs. Wild Beasts, on the other hand, hoot their way through a polished, brilliant set that has the tent howling for more. Over on the main stage, things are getting weird with Wayne Coyne’s lazer-jazz-hands – his band the Flaming Lips are predictably epic as ever. But the real freakiness is going on elsewhere, with Neon Indian‘s set-of-the-weekend for the 100 or so people there to witness it. “Like a discofied version of Chk Chk Chk….” they are one of the discoveries of the weekend, month, year even. But the night is not over yet. There’s still time to squeeze in a bit of Metronomy before bed. These guys really have developed into the finished article, the perfect party band – absolutely immense! Honourable mentions too for the lovely First Aid Kit, who are just great, and the quietly impressive Scottish folkie Rachel Sermanni.

Sunday starts in sardonic style, with the deadpan Steve Adams showing off his new band, Singing Adams (“A big hand for Melinda on the drums. She’s a horrible person but a great drummer”). The lyrics are great and the sing-along moments are rather lovely too. And if the band thing doesn’t work out, Steve has a sure fire future in stand-up comedy. Things go from sunny to surreal with the arrival of Darwin Deez, who pull a big crowd, possibly due to their camp-as-Christmas dance routines rather than the music. Nowt wrong with that, mind. By contrast, Alasdair Roberts sits at the other end of the music spectrum, with his serious, traditional folk songs culled from as far afield as New Zealand and 9th century Persia. The final tune, an epic for all the people in the crowd on anti-depressents, is about as eccentric as it gets though.

Stuart Staples - Mr. Tindersticks

Field Music, Laura Marling and folk boy-band Mumford & Sons all come and go with impressive, if perfunctory sets, leaving the crowd in the capable hands of the swoonsome but slightly world-weary Tindersticks. The bubble and squeak of Joanna Newsom soothes a massive main-stage crowd as night falls and the rain returns with a vengeance. But there’s one more surprise in store for people down the GM pub – Silver Columns are the most baffling, nuts act of the whole weekend. Comprising folkie stalwarts Adem and Pictish Trail, the Silver Columns are early 90s rave, Erasure and c.2007 handbag house all rolled into one. You get the feeling the whole project is a bit of a joke, but there’s no denying it’s a pretty good one.

A weird way to end the festival perhaps but this is Green Man where, as they say, you should always expect the unexpected…

Words and pictures: Joe Downie

In Photos: Latitude Festival

For Folk's Sake — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:58:06 +0000

Our photographer about town, Georgie M'Glug, reports on the folkier side of Latitude

Conor O’Brien of Villagers cries out to the packed Word Arena with his raw, immediate and achingly-heartfelt songs on Friday afternoon.

Demure and unassuming as ever, but with a new-found fire in her belly, Laura Marling commands the Obelisk Arena on Friday night.

What’s not to love about First Aid Kit? They arrived for their woodland set on Saturday by walking through the audience at the Sunrise Arena, took photos of each other whilst sound-checking, and thanked their dad for being their roadie sound man. Totally adorable!

Beehived and breathtaking, Beth Jeans Houghton treated ‘tuders to some haunting, country-tainted folk at the Lake Stage, Sunday night.

Festival stalwart Florence and the Machine

The marvellous Holly Miranda

Words and photos: Georgie M’Glug

Live: Peggy Sue & First Aid Kit @ The Garage, London

For Folk's Sake — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:14:20 +0000

Having seen Peggy Sue more recently in a festival field and First Aid Kit in the heavenly Union Chapel, on first impressions The Garage seemed something of a mis-match. A dark, low-ceilinged, intimate venue with a reputation as a rite of passage for indie bands, the relaunched Garage may not appear the ideal venue for folk music. Its shadowy confines may have felt oppressive to begin with, but a fittingly intimate amosphere developed for what was both a gig and a birthday celebration for the Wichita label itself.

Rosa Slade and Katy Young take turns at fronting Peggy Sue, swapping between guitar, accordion and ukulele. The sweetness in their vocals belies the fury of women scorned in lyrics such as “I’m gonna go down town gonna find myself some fun / I’m gonna go down town I’m gonna get myself someone / Forget your hair forget your smell until there’s none.” This, from ‘Yo Mama’, is a good example of the attitude of hurt and emotional reprisal.

Peggy Sue deliver their angry music with a fist concealed in the proverbial velvet glove, occasionally interrupted by a seam of regret as in ‘The Shape We Made’, a musing on the memory of spooning with an ex lover. The trio worked the small stage well: Rosa in particular performs with a striking presence; showing the emotion on her face as she sings and poses like a star with a lifetime of experience. What direction they go from here will be the key to their future success; agitated melancholy is one thing, but can they play happy, and do we really want them to?

Following Peggy Sue, the Soderberg sisters who form First Aid Kit took to the stage with a confidence and exuberence I haven’t seen in them before. This was most striking in Johanna who has seemed nervous in the past despite the assuredness of their music. Gone is the self-deprecating belief that their audience only know them due to a YouTube Fleet Foxes cover, replaced instead by playfulness in the performance.

Older material combined with tracks from this year’s The Big Black and Blue were played with their usual heartbreaking thrust and murmured riposte including what is becoming a well-oiled performance of ‘Ghost Town’ unplugged in the front ranks of the crowd. This is possibly the most beautiful track in their arsenal and is rightly given special treatment as Klara’s voice sweeps her fans away into a reverie, receiving rapturous applause at its end.

The confines of The Garage made the experience of this track, and First Aid Kit’s music as a whole, all the more mesmerising and all-encompassing. The girls wrapped things up with an onstage contest, getting some eager fans up for a sing-along to win some tickets. I only wish my hand had gone up faster and with more conviction to secure my place onstage.

All in all it was a fitting end to a fitting part of the Wichita 10th Anniversary celebrations, probably greatly improved by the omission of my own vocal contribution.

Words and Pictures: Chris Gent

Singles round-up: the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the National, First Aid Kit, Crocodiles

Lynn Roberts — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:51:44 +0000

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Say No To Love

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart may be telling us to ‘Say No To Love’ in their latest single, but it will be hard to keep away once you’ve heard it. Singer Kip Bermans soft alluring voice will have you smitten within the first 30 seconds and along with a simple mix of guitars, drums and a piano when the 3.49 minuets are over you will be in a full blown love affair with this track before you know it. To ensure the love affair continues catch them at Latitude early July then a short UK tour end of July. Out Now. To fall in love head to The Pains of Being Pure of Heart’s MySpace. - JP

The National – Anyone’s ghost

While summer might be all about those fun loving, care-free tracks and this is a song more fitting to slightly overcast weather, here at For Folk’s Sake we don’t like to leave anybody out. Hailing from Brooklyn The National’s latest single, ‘Anyone’s Ghost’ fits the bill perfectly. Claiming Joy Division as one of their influences, this certainly rings true as singer Matt Berninger moodily tells his tale of woe and a lost love. Unfortunately its going to be tricky to catch them live as they are not going to be in the UK much these next few months, so for the next best option head to YouTube for a watch and a listen. Out Now. - JP

First Aid Kit – Sailor Song

Taken from their debut album The Big Black And The Blue the third single, ‘Sailor Song’ is simply beautiful, if folk is the genre for you, I need say no more other than you will love this track, I guarantee it. While the lyrics may not be relatable to everyone, “the sailors leave in the morning, I’ll be waiting for you all night” its certainly heart warming and will not fail to put a smile upon your pretty little faces and even a tear to a certain reviewers’ eyes. Out 12th July. What ever your plans are right now, stop and watch the video, I promise it will bring you nothing but enjoyment. - JP

Crocodiles – Sleep Forever

We have had a lot to thank the Californian sun for over the years, with all those frazzled brains churning out psychedelic fuzz and upbeat melodies. Crocodiles’ ‘Sleep Forever’ is the latest in the long line of offerings from the Golden State, and yet initially seems more suited to our own summer climate with it’s charming opening line “Yesterday the sky was cold and gray/kept me as a prisoner in my home”. As the song progresses the brief touches of suitably trippy vocals, vaguely poppy harmonies and the hazy, electronic mirage of sound are frequently drowned out by anthemic posturing of the post-punk variety. The result is an interesting mish-mash and with Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford on producing duty you can probably guess which musical legacy wins out in the end. (Clue: it ain’t the sunshine pop of the 1960s.) - LJ

Words: Jess Powderly, Lois Jeary

For Folk's Sake » First Aid Kit

Album | First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

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