Review: Stay Gold by First Aid Kit

Stay Gold is pretty much a departure from First Aid Kit’s first two albums. Sure, the Söderberg sisters continue their journey down Americana sounds, but this time they’ve let go of most of the delicate prettiness that defined them – save for the more prominent strings – and jumped head first into a world of foot-stomping. No, they haven’t gone Mumford & Sons on us. In fact, Stay Gold is a smart way to move things: they’ve established goodwill, and now, with the help of returning producer Mike Mogis, they’re marking their territory, while looking like they’re just having fun. The ten tracks are less grim and more anthemic; there’s a sharper edge to Klara and Johanna’s harmonies and lyrics. (Also, Johanna’s a much bigger presence in this album.) The sunshine on tracks like “Cedar Lane” and “The Bell” is still wrapped with a sense of uncertainty. And then you hit “Heaven Knows” – it’s the closest they’ll get to a country track, for now, and you meet it without resistance. It’s like they’ve earned it. Sometimes the album goes a bit too far – “Fleeting One” struck me as a bit overproduced – but Stay Gold does what it set out to do well: it is a declaration that First Aid Kit is here to stay. And staying, they most definitely are. [NB] | 4/5