Stockholm Syndrome

I hate to break it to you, but country music failed us. Once the genre of choice for outlaws and simple folks with big dreams, it's become a streamlined industry of tepid tunes and Nashville-bankrolled pasteurized posturing. Look no further than the Country Music Awards, where 2014's big winner, Miranda Lambert, has tamed what little edge she had, and the hunky men are taking more flavor from truck commercials these days than Willie or Johnny. 

But there is still reason to hope, and it comes from the unlikeliest of places. In Sweden, two women in their early 20s are bringing the roots of country into the 21st century, under the unassuming name First Aid Kit.

What does this have to do with metal fans? Well, for starters, they can smell bullshit from miles away. Metal was, until recently, a remarkably vital and progressive genre. In 2014, tradition and authenticity rule the day. Even outside obvious genre boundaries, metalheads have taken to L.A. folk singer Chelsea Wolfe. Though there's nothing outwardly metallic about her music, she flirts with the vibes of darkness, delivering genuinely stirring music, and her live concerts are filled with black-clad crowds. 

Though First Aid Kit is decidedly sunnier in outlook, its upcoming show may well be peppered with some of the same adventurous audience. Or, at least, it should be. 

First Aid Kit is Klara and Johanna Söderberg, hailing from suburban Stockholm. From the get-go, most metal fans will be curious about anything hailing from Sweden that isn't ABBA. Scandinavia has one of the richest and most important metal scenes in the world, and if you ask any Norwegian, they'll be quick to tell you that Swedes are the bumpkins that live in their shadow. As it stands, the Söderberg sisters have soaked in that quality that once made country great. Their harmonies are golden, and the melancholy sounds achingly real.

Fans of true, old-fashioned country have had few options in recent years. The best practitioner by far is Neko Case, and First Aid Kit draws deeply from her well. But Neko's audience isn't really country fans, and neither is First Aid Kit's. The Söderbergs have been under the wing of their father, a successful pop-rock musician himself. But they've also come to the attention of Conor Oberst, Jack White and Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. Most of those are hardly names that mainstream country fans will recognize, but they are a sort of royalty nonetheless.

Metal is cathartic music, but there is a time when the doors and windows have to be kicked open and the dust cleared out of the cabin. Heavy music carries more weight when juxtaposed against simple beauty. When the sun breaks with dawn and your ears are ringing from the onslaught, ease into First Aid Kit's Stay Gold. While the main themes of the album seem to be love, loss and determined hope, the girls are not afraid to walk in the shadows. "Fleeting One" begins acoustically, then blooms into the arranged gloom that worked so well for Leonard Cohen: "As we took those evening walks/Down through the graveyard/Those names engraved always/Put a new shade to my thoughts." The mood fits like a beanbag chair, and conjures the spirits that we miss. America has let us down, but two girls from Sweden are lighting a new path. 

SEE IT: First Aid Kit plays Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., on Friday, Nov. 14. 9 pm. $22. All ages.

WWeek 2015