First Aid Kit - Hard Believer

With Fleet Foxes and Animal Collective opening the log cabin door for the plaid-shirted flocks of pastoral folk bands, it’s likely First Aid Kit will see their stock rise soon. Much has been made of the fact that although they’re a pair of teenage Swedish sisters, they sound like careworn Appalachian chanteuses. Hard Believer is a simply produced hymn of acoustic guitar, banjo and piano, and those remarkable voices combining beautifully. In the wrong hands, the refrain ‘And it’s one life, and it’s this life, and it’s beautiful’ could sound saccharine: when First Aid Kit sing it, it’s impossible not to be moved.