First Aid Kit // Drunken Trees

Occasionally, a record comes along that reminds me just how magical music can be. It’s a fairly rare occurrence but, just sometimes, a record truly captivates and enchants me. 'Drunken Trees’ did just that. A truly charming musical offering, this is the first EP from Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg, hailing from Enskede, a suburb south of Stockholm, born 1990 and 1993 respectively. Yes, that’s right, 1993, making Klara a mere 16-years-old. It’s truly staggering and awe-inspiring that Klara picked up her first guitar at the age of 13, and that the pair did not even begin composing songs together until the spring of 2007, yet the duo have produced an immensely beautiful, mature and accomplished sound that vastly belies their meagre years on this planet, and a first record that is hopefully a sign of greatly promising things to come. With Klara describing her first encounter with the song 'First Day of my Life’ by Bright Eyes as a “revelation”, the influence here is clear, with wonderful lyrics, beautiful melodies and a real innocence to their forest folk sound. This is a true, true delight.