First Aid Kit
The Toff in Town, Melbourne
Monday 6th September 2010
It’s strange how bands suddenly emerge out of nowhere to become the toast of Melbourne. Maybe it's whispers on radio or tittering seeping through the right circles but on Sunday and Monday at the Toff, Swedish sisters First Aid Kit became the beneficiaries of a wave of adoration that most musical tourists would die for.
And, as it turns out, for good reason. Sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg were the advertised revelation. Their 60 minute set was not nearly long enough, and their songs’ sameyness on record easily eclipsed by their close-to-holy presence on stage. They were twee without being cute, earthy without falling into an Angus and Julia Stone-style earnestness, and resonant without being the slightest bit Christian. Two impeccably-attired, American-accented starlets might well have attracted cynicism, but the doubters were cast effortlessly aside.
I arrived at what I thought was an early time to just catch Daisy Tulley from Bridezilla mooching through her final few offerings, including a closing ditty dedicated to her father. While her band is a complex, moody beast, Tulley’s sullenness loped around the room as looped guitar and violin duelled appropriately. The precociousness, rather than coming across as annoying, added an intriguing layer.
Still, judging from some restless murmerings it was the Swedes we were here to see. When the thick red curtain parted and the up-tempo ‘Sailor Song’ lurched to life, the sight of two ardent Neko Case fans slamming pitch-perfect harmonies made you wonder whether you were actually witnessing some kind of bizarre marionette karaoke. Thankfully it was real, and current God-sledging single ‘Hard Believer’ and its ‘love is tough, time is rough’ couplet dissolved the tension and drew everyone closer.
As father Benkt (formerly of Swedish rockers Lolita Pop, a little weirdly) twiddled knobs and tour manager Dale brushed the drums, the aura started to get positively fan-like. The couplet in ‘Ghost Town’, performed without amplification on the lip of the stage, had everyone who’s ever been dumped yearning pitifully for their ex, especially on the killer, sweeping bridge: “And I remember how you told me all that you wanted to do / A dream of Paris in the morning or a New York window view”.
Klara’s otherworldly vocals led off most of the songs, and on driving, Case-esque single ‘I Met Up With The King’, they meshed almost too fluidly with Johanna’s cooing chorus lines. But this was more than pastiche. A brand new, untitled song name-checking Gram Parsons and June Carter enthralled the few remaining resisters. There was even some prickly between-song banter, presumably honed by years sitting opposite each other at the breakfast table. But the giggling would, without fail, quickly evaporate into what sounded like their next ready-made Nashville classic.
The two-song encore crowned it. First, a luminous Parsons cover, 'Still Feeling Blue', and then the clincher, a faithful rendition of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s peacenik refreain ‘Universal Soldier', performed with serious intent down on the floor in the middle of the dumbstruck audience, the chairs and tables shoved aside. Two Swedish sisters, too young to remember the first Gulf War, drawing attention to the futile battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone seemed too stunned to shake their heads in disbelief. But believe it they did.
Andrew Crook
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(First Aid Kit play at the Oxford Arts Factory tonight in Sydney and at the Spiegeltent in Brisbane this weekend. Go - Ed)