First Aid Kit: Stay Gold

Johanna and Klara Söderberg reveal darker layers on their third record, with literate lyrics and an atmosphere of existential crisis. Loss is the recurring theme, the title inspired by Robert Frost's 1923 poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, which is about the impermanence in nature. That these Swedes love American roots is obvious on the title song's full ripe sound; on Cedar Lane, with its melancholy piano; and on a waltz that complements the spindly and subtle A Long Time Ago. Their beautiful voices are married to contrast – a galloping headiness on Heaven Knows and a sense of anxiety on My Silver Lining: "I don't know if I am scared of dying, but I am scared of living too fast, too slow." The siblings breathe new life into country and folk, with youth providing the energy to take tragedy and make it seem like the first time. Waitress Song muses on escape as a way of transcending a broken heart, and Shattered & Hollow reveals their truest hand: "I'd rather be broken than empty." thisisfirstaidkit.com

Download: My Silver Lining, Shattered & Hollow