There’s something uncanny about The Lion’s Roar from the very beginning, when there’s nothing more than minor-key acoustic guitar and a will-o’-the-wisp flickering between the trees. A tender yet hardened young woman sets the scene (”The pale morning sings/ of forgotten things”), and the air’s already thick with mythology. It’s the feeling you get when you look to the west- so beautiful it’s profoundly unsettling, and so profoundly unsettling it’s beautiful. There’s witchery afoot, and slavery, and plagues. Can’t blame us too much for being such goddamn cowards and fools, but God damn us anyway. And while God’s at it, God can damn itself for taking so much of our innocence before we could muster enough courage and wisdom to fill the void.
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“Swedish Americana” makes a lot of sense. Sweden totally gets America when it comes to pop, at least more so than other countries where English is a second language. America may not always get what Swedish pop has to offer us, like Robyn for instance, but Swedish pop sure gets us, all right.
First Aid Kit (sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg) highlights just how kindred our nation’s Country Western & Southern Gothic spirits are to the land of ABBA. It’s not surprising that Flannery O’Connor’s friends thought she’d enjoy the films of Ingmar Bergman. So how great would it be if Loretta Lynn covered “Knowing Me, Knowing You”? And wouldn’t it be cool if Linda Ronstadt did an album of Jens Lekman songs? “Swedish Americana” ought to be a slightly bigger sub-genre than it currently is, and The Lion’s Roar ought to be a cornerstone of that sub-genre.
Inspirations are flaunted relentlessly throughout The Lion’s Roar. First Aid Kit are still Co-Presidents of the Fleet Foxes fan club, as well as subscribers to the Joanna Newsom newsletter. They love Bright Eyes so much they end the album with a very Bright Eyes-like ditty featuring Conor Oberst himself. They reference Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, June Carter and Johnny Cash in a single chorus. Wearing all these influences so boldly on their Paisley dresses could potentially be cloying, distracting and self-sabotaging. But First Aid Kit are so ridiculously good at singing and songwriting, they can get away with it every step of the way. Much credit should also go to Mike Mogis’s tasteful production, which sharply spotlights the Soderbergs’ voices and knows exactly how to surround them with centuries of American folk.
Seriously, this album is stunning, even if you don’t dig Fleet Foxes. The first time hearing it, I felt like I knew each song was gonna be good before the first measure had finished, and I was right every time. More than a dozen spins later, The Lion’s Roar is still as beautiful as the night we met- every toothsome melody, every scintillating harmony.
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When you love someone for years and years, inevitably you’ll take that person for granted a bunch of times. Occasionally you may even forget why you loved them in the first place. The reassuring part is, sometimes you can just look at someone and instantly remember why you love them, and you treasure them more than you ever did before, at least until the cycle starts again.
When Johanna (born 1990) and Klara (born 1993) voice these sentiments in “This Old Routine,” they sound like they know from decades more experience than they could possibly have. Their voices are emotional yet subtle, favoring restraint and reaching for the stars only when the tune calls for it. Also, their twangs are suspiciously convincing. I wouldn’t rule out that these young girls are the reincarnations of obscenely graceful Southern-American women, blessed and grizzled by lifetimes of love.
Then again, the Soderbergs aren’t totally immune to the charms and follies of youth. “I know I am naive,” they sing, “but if anything, that’s what’s going to save me.”
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One of my favorite things about The Lion’s Roar is the kind of moments when they make you think you totally know what word is going to end the lyric, and then at the very last second, they screwball you. “Now I guess sometimes I wish you were a little more predictable/ that I could read you just like a book/ For now I can only guess what’s coming next/ by examining your timid…” Look? Nope!
“…smile!“
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