There By The Grace Of God

I hardly listen to top 40 radio anymore. Not, that is, since I banned the kids from touching the dial while I’m driving. They can listen to whatever shit they want in their own time. Or when their mum’s driving. But when I’m the one driving, the rule is: thou shalt listen to anything thy father plays. And thou shalt love it.

Unfortunately, every so often, despite being free of prompting and/or outside interference/kids, I’ve interrupted a Tom Petty or Traffic mid-song to “see” what’s on the other channels. I can’t really tell you why I’ve acted this way. Was I expecting to find Hitz playing Purple Haze? Red devoting airtime to a 17-minute Floyd opus? I don’t know.

“Every so often” happened again as recently as last week, I must confess. Though, I should add that this time, I regretted my actions almost immediately. I mean Selena I can take. Bieber too, in small doses. But a stupid hoe doing a song about stupid hoes with an entire chorus that goes “you a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe” is, well, fucking stupid. It’s the kind of thing that could get you killed and/or destroy the world if you allowed it. Thankfully, I had a CD on hand to restore my faith in humanity. A first aid kit, if you will, by First Aid Kit. (OK, I know that’s cheesier than a pack of Kraft singles but hey, if the bra fits…)

Anyhow, First Aid Kit. 

Oh my God! I dare say First Aid Kit saved me from smashing the car radio in. From crashing the car. From calling Hitz, Universal Music and Nicki Minaj (in that order) and demanding my time back.

Twenty twelve has, thus far, been a pretty decent year for the kind of music I like. Sharon Van Etten, Kathleen Edwards, Azmyl, Brendan Benson, Pure Moon… There’s been a lot of stuff to like and yet, The Lion’s Roar is better than all of ’em.

I don’t know very much about Johanna and Klara Söderberg, the Swedish sisters who make up First Aid Kit. But The Lion’s Roar makes me think that their folks deserve some sort of award. Johanna is 22, Klara is 19. And one listen to their new sophomore record makes it sure seems like these girls were protected and defended all through their formative years against the sinister grip of Ace of Base and their ilk and weaned instead on Townes, Gram, Gene Clark, Jimmy Webb, Willie, Johnny Cash, The Band, Dylan, Linda Ronstadt and of course, the divine Emmylou Harris.

Emmylou, one of the many highlights on The Lion’s Roar, references Ms Harris. As it does Gram, Johnny and June. As it does every great Americana record from For the Sake of the Song and John Wesley Harding through Grievous Angel and Blue Kentucky Girl all the way to Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression and Ryan Adams’ Heartbreaker. But even so, it is unique within the genre and among the pillars of Americana’s institution in its stark beauty. In its foreboding melancholy. And the aching doom of a line like “yes, I might have lied to you/ you wouldn’t benefit from knowing the truth”. 

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for Americana. Especially when it comes swathed in sublime harmonies. But even if I weren’t, and even if Stupid Hoe didn’t exist to threaten the honest music fans of the world, I’d still consider The Lion’s Roar a life-saving record. Whatever else they do, this record by First Aid Kit will remain a classic.

Five stars out of five for The Lion’s Roar. Six out of five for Johanna and Klara’s folks.