First Aid Kit - Palomino

Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg (First Aid Kit) have released the follow-up to their last album ‘Ruins’, which reached No.3 in the UK charts in 2018. Recorded in Stockholm ‘Palomino’ is a bright, upbeat record, their fifth, with resilience at its core, the open highway a leitmotif throughout. This new release is a mix of Nashville story-telling, reminiscent of their earlier work, and 60s country soul, interspersed with contemporary Scandinavian pop. Highlights of this eleven-track collection include: the opener, the rollicking rock pop ‘Out Of My Head’; anthemic country track ‘Angel’ with its soaring vocals about needing to get rid of fear and inhibitions; ballad ‘Ready To Run’, the plaintive dissection of an old romance; ‘Turning Onto You’ with its layered vocals; ‘White Horse II’ reminiscing in a traditional Americana mode of a road trip and motel stays in which the liking of different versions of the 1971 song ‘White Horses’ becomes a harbinger of the growing void In the relationship: “I thought I couldn’t change/So I didn’t even try”; the funky classic rock ‘A Feeling That Never Came’ a goodbye to a relationship that didn’t work: “I loved you, but I’ve put all that to rest/Stood at the corner, solemn in the rain/Waiting for something, a feeling that never came”; and ’29 Palms Highway’ a paean to desert sand and starry skies. At times escapist, at times a lyrical exploration of emotional vulnerability, ‘Palomino’ is a reflective, harmonious palette of sound, a confident sequel to their previous work.

Track Listing:-

1 Out of My Head
2 Angel
3 Ready to Run
4 Turning Onto You
5 Fallen Snow
6 Wild Horses II
7 The Last One
8 Nobody Knows
9 A Feeling That Never Came
10 29 Palms Highway
11 Palomino