Sweden wins again: FIRST AID KIT

I've always been fond of female singer-songwriters. I had my hulking black boombox perched on my windowsill for most of the 90's cooing out everything from Jewel's Pieces of You, to the banshee anthems of Alanis Morisset's Jagged Little Pill, Fiona Apple's nightmare-inducing Extraordinay Machines, and a healthy side of prime R&B courtesy of Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of... in 1998.

This love for the empowered singer-songwriter femme fatale developed further into our current decade. It's morphed into something a bit more hipster and hokey, very unlike the broody tunes with which I entered adolescence in the 90's. Now, instead of Alanis and Fiona, it's Kate Nash, Regina Spektor and Kaki King.

The 2000's are nearing their end, and with the end of another developmentally complicated decade I feel I must continue my journey along the river of the female songstress with a new breed of talent. I present my latest obsession: First Aid Kit.

Meet Johanna and Klara Söderberg, two Swedish sisters who were still infants in their cribs when Alanis was singing to me about traffic jams and irony.

I accidentally found First Aid Kit on youtube while searching for Fleet Foxes, whom I was planning on writing about. Eventually I will write about Fleet Foxes, and the Newport Folk Festival, and camping, and the general appeal of bearded men. I serendipitously found a cover that these girls sang on a log in the woods of Sweden. Their voices gave me goosebumps that still are struggling to recede.

And they're so young! They are the same ages as my two little brothers. Which, naturally, leads me to wonder why the hell my little brothers haven't formed a melodic folk duo yet. I mean, what the hell? The only thing I've seen them perform together is "Albie the Racist Dragon" from Flight of the Conchords.

I'm going to try to adopt Johanna and Klara as the precious little Swedish sisters I've always wanted. I also want to take them camping, though I think they could kick my Yankee ass in that department. I mean, 1) they wear amazing flannels regularly, and 2) they film live performances in the woods. They win, I think.