Following on from their 2009 debut album “The Big Black And The Blue”, Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit are all set to release their delightful second album “The Lion’s Roar” in January 2012, with the title track of the album our on 5th December.

Made up of sisters Johanna and Klara, First Aid Kit released their first EP “Drunken Trees” back in 2008 and have since released their debut album followed by an extensive tour of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand!

Having just toured as support with fellow Swede Lykke Li, we got chatting to Johanna and Klara who told us all about the new album…

Hi Johanna and Klara! You’ve just finished touring in the US supporting Lykke Li, how did it go?

It was really great, we’re big fans of Lykke Li she’s a very special person and very talented so it was great to tour with her – we got to perform on the Letterman show too which was fun. 

Your second album “The Lion’s Roar” is out in January, what can we expect in comparison to your debut?

It’s definitely different to “The Big Black And Blue”, it’s more of a band feeling and there’s a lot more going on. We feel like we’ve grown in every aspect of our career, with our singing, songwriting and arranging.

How does the songwriting process work and do you find being sisters helps?

Kara will usually start off the songs and then I join in and we sort of finish the songs together, and work on the lyrics together. We’re on the same page musically and we kind of really know what we want so it’s quite easy for us to collaborate. There’s never really any discussion or debate - we almost always think the same thing about a song and like the same thing. Hopefully it’ll continue to be like that, we look at music the same way and have the same aspirations so it really works well us working together.

You worked with Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes on “The Lion’s Roar”, how was it?

It was very interesting for us because our first record was recorded in my bedroom and this was recorded in an amazing studio in the US so it was quite a different feeling. We were a bit nervous but instantly we felt like it was going to work, and felt like Mike really understood our music and what it’s about and could help us get our music to the next level , which he did. It was just a very fun and creative process, really easy and really fast and it met my expectations and above that. The whole process was an amazing time in our lives and I think you can hear in the record we’re having fun and doing something that we love.

How did working with Bright Eyes come about?

Mike saw us play live in Austin last year at a festival called ‘Austin City Limits’, and right after the show we got a message from Mike saying he wanted to record our album.  He’s been our dream producer because Bright Eyes was the band that got us into country and folk music from the beginning so it was like of course we were going to record with him! 

You’ve been touring for a while now and played in the US and Europe, are there any highlights or places that stand out for you?

Well, we definitely loved playing Union Chapel,  that was really special for us – it’s always special playing churches because it’s interesting to see how it affects people – people become very reserved. We’ve been very lucky in terms of touring because we’ve had so many great shows, Portland is one of our favourite cities to play and we love Austin, but I think that’s because we’ve actually had time to explore those places. Most places we’ve visited we can only base on how the show goes.

You recently performed at the Polar Prize in Stockholm where you sang a Patti Smith song whilst she was in the audience, how did it feel?

It was very special, our parents have listened to Patti Smith for a very long time so we grew up with her music and we’ve always loved her music – she’s such a cool person, I can’t think of anyone who’s cooler than her! It was on TV which we knew but the only person that we really cared about was her – it could have been just her and we would have been just as nervous. Because we were doing her song we didn’t want to dishonour her by doing a bad rendition, but we watched her reaction after and and saw her tearing up and seeing that was the most amazing compliment for us. 

You’ve contributed to the ‘Cool For School’ charity compilation set up by the Gift Horse Project and Manimal Vinyl, can you tell us a bit about it?

Yeah, that was recorded during our tour with Bright Eyes in September in New Orleans on the tour bus - they told us that they’d been approached about doing this compilation for African school children which we thought was an amazing thing. We covered “We’re Going To Be Friends” by The White Stripes, it was really fun and an amazing experience.

You often cite older folk artists like Gram Parsons and The Louvin Brothers as your influences, do you listen and take inspiration from any newer artists – what kinds of things have you listened to this year?

There’s been a lot of amazing new records this year – Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Alela Diana, Laura Marling – we love her. I think there’s a mini folk revival right now and there a lot of amazing artists from the UK and the US so we’re definitely not just listening to the old stuff.

Are there other genres that influence you?

We listen to a lot of jazz, when we were kids we listened to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, we really like Norah Jones too. We love country folk and blues and I think that’s really what our music is about but you can hear pop and jazz influences in our music too.

What are your plans for 2012?

It’s going to be a really busy year for us, we’re going to tour constantly and see the world! We’re going to Australia, back to the US, Europe and probably Asia too – so it’s this crazy year for us where we get to perform our new songs. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time and we’re really excited, we can’t wait to play our new songs for people.

Are there any artists in particular you’re looking forward to hearing more from next year?

Dylan LeBlanc has a new record out, he’s an amazing singer-songwriter.  I read a review and went a listened to his record and just loved it. I kind of stalked him after that and emailed him – he wrote back and we became friends. We’ve performed with him and he’s very talented – he has the most beautiful voice, so we’re really excited about the new record.

Check out our First Aid Kit station here, made up of all the artists mentioned in the interview.

                                             

First Aid Kit’s latest single “The Lion’s Roar” is released on 5th December. Find out more about First Aid Kit here.

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