Ruins
| First Aid Kit
Ruins
Ruins is the fourth studio album by Swedish indie folk duo First Aid Kit. The album was produced by Tucker Martine and features contributions from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Wilco's Glenn Kotche and Midlake's McKenzie Smith. The album was released on 19 January 2018. The lead single "It's a Shame" was released on 28 September 2017. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The Swedish folk duo’s fourth album is a showcase for their sweet harmonies, with some bold stylistic departures.
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SPIN
It should be obvious: Ruins is about endings. On their fourth album as First Aid Kit, indie-folk darlings Klara and Johanna Söderberg reckon with adult heartache like never before—perhaps because they never had cause.
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NME
Klara and Johanna Söderberg's fourth album is a folksy delight.
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Saving Country Music
And even though you would swear Klara and Johanna Söderberg are beyond this world by what they’re able to achieve when they rise in song together, they apparently hurt and crumble as well. Yet even from rubble and ruins, they can still rise.
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The Guardian
If one can’t really claim First Aid Kit explore much undiscovered territory with their music – you’re looking at the view from the back seat of a car, rather than the bench seat of a covered wagon – there’s much to be said for the familiar, when it’s delivered with such grace.
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The Guardian
Ruins starts with an impeccable run of five songs, where the Söderbergs work those sorrowful melodies and tongue-in-groove harmonies into gleaming shapes. Lead single It’s a Shame has both pace and pedal steel, while Fireworks is a lovely, old-timey waltz.
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Rolling Stone
At times, the musical ornamentation feels too much. But when those two voices combine, it all falls away.
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Uncut
Swedish folk sisters gently evolve on sombre fourth.
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Paste Magazine
Ruins is a more mature record. Not that it’s darker per se; their gorgeous, blood-close harmonies and the sunny streaks of pedal steel guitar keep it from ever feeling too morose. Instead, there’s a gentle weight of experience that permeates the album’s lyrics, a freshly-sharpened edge of cynicism.
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Telegraph
This quality of unity lends their tales of failed romance an implicit, feminist strength. First Aid Kit sooth the pain of heartbreak with the balm of sisterhood.
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Consequence of Sound
The Swedish sibling duo expand into new territories without ever being groundbreaking.
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Atwood Magazine
Give First Aid Kit’s Ruins a good listen: It may leave you feeling a bit confused, but just as in life, when the confusion sets in, just go back to the beginning and start again.
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Country Exclusive
Whatever your natural inclination, I encourage you to give these sisters and this album a listen; talent and good music cross all genre lines.
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Drowned in Sound
The duo have the tools to capture a wider public imagination than they are doing presently, and as lovely as Ruins is without them, First Aid Kit’s lack of edge is beginning to look less like prudent risk aversion and more like self-inflicted damage.
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The Young Folks
Ruins is a cinematic venture that skillfully capitalizes on this sisterhood of celestial harmonies.
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American Songwriter
The album is a penetrating exploration of self-aware millennial restlessness.
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Music OMH
A few more rough edges and sonic variety would shake things up and possibly open new avenues, but for now things aren’t in Ruins, another good (if not quite great) First Aid Kit album.
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The Line of Best Fit
First Aid Kit’s Ruins is original, punchy, rousing and implicitly feminist.
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The 405
Reeling from a broken relationship, Klara Söderberg sought out her sister and employed First Aid Kit to vent her emotions on what became their most powerful album, Ruins.
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Slant Magazine
First Aid Kit has gotten exceedingly proficient at imitating their favorite American artists.
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Folk Radio UK
It’s often said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and this album applies salve to the wound and sets about the healing. Just like the medical box of their name, every home should have one.
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The Irish Times
As soothing as a warm coat.
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Exclaim!
Lyrically and sonically, Ruins helps First Aid Kit gives listeners a mature, realized and often heartbreaking version of this young band's oeuvre.
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B-Sides Badlands
Ruins is at times revelatory, other times unequivocally simple. And therein lies the duo’s true charm.
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Amnplify
First Aid Kit have wrapped up an album all about final goodbyes and internal acceptance, tainted with relatable lyricism and melodic guitar strumming that builds throughout.
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AltWire
It’s clear for those familiar with First Aid Kit that Ruins is more a refinement than an evolution of the bands sound. But I feel it is those refinements that work towards an intriguing cohesive whole that’s injected with an undeniable sense of sincerity, heartbreak, and the finality of endings, which creates an album which proves to be the bands greatest work yet, and that it grants a perfect unique utility that allows us to put on the record whenever we feel like taking a time-out in life for a healthy cry or a moment to be reflective and appreciate all the many miracles that life presents us.
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The Fire Note
Ruins is a solid addition to First Aid Kit’s catalog, but you’re going to need to be a fan of the band or of the country-folk genre to really get down with it.
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The National Student
First Aid Kit’s follow-up to the widely successful Stay Gold sees the duo push out of their musical comfort zones whilst retaining the character that gave them such broad appeal in the first place.
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Golden Plec
In the dark, moody harmonies of Hem of Her Dress, they sing of being “so loud and so discrete,” and it sounds like that’s exactly what they’ve created here.
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The Modern Record
FIRST AID KIT RETURN WITH AN ALBUM OF WOE AND WISDOM, AS COMPLICATED AND CLEAR CUT AS ANY HEARTBREAK COULD BE.
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The Current
From the perfect tempo and pace on "It's a Shame," to the bittersweet title track about the ruins of a broken relationship, the Soderbergs seem to have perfected their sound.
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Albumism
Ruins may not recapture the intensity of Stay Gold, but its strength lays in the duo’s swooning vocals and lyrical romance. Where it misses the loud, creative production of past albums, folk vocals with a little extra (those harmonies!) pick up the slack. Ruins is a charismatic, concise send-up of a style unclaimed by many young American musicians in 2018, but exquisitely executed by these special Swedish talents.
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The Edge
Ruins starts off as an extremely promising folk album, but meanders to an indifferent conclusion.
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Contact Music
You've probably got an album, or at least a collection of songs, that are your go-to for going out, partying, solitude, quite, refection, etc. 'Ruins' will surely be your new go-to post break-up essential, although it's definitely not essential to have a break up to enjoy it!
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Diandra Reviews It All
First Aid Kit’s Ruins was exceptionally fierce. It was an album built for the country-pop heart that dares to bask in her own femininity.
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Hotpress
The sisters’ voices swoop and glide, like swallows on a spring morning – a spring-water balm for thirsty souls. It’s a familiar and soothing formula, if at times veering to the anodyne.
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Loud And Quiet
‘Ruins’ mostly stays well within the First Aid Kit wheelhouse. ‘Ruins’ is on brand – there’s the odd moment of adventure, but for anything beyond that it’ll have to be the Söderberg’s next record.
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Thank Folk For That
Overall, Ruins has some beautiful moments. Some songs are exceptional and show that the sisters are aware of what they are creating. As a folk album it excels, however, it would not stand out among others. The harmonies are beautiful; the melodies are simplistic but the album slows down, resulting in something that could just be that little bit better.
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The Skinny
Ruins doesn't aim to re-write the indie-folk/country rule book. Rather, the Söderberg sisters are just fine-tuning their craft and growing into a comfortable groove.
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Highway Queens
First Aid Kit might not take the ‘easy road’ but they always walk unafraid. On this evidence they will have a crowd following them wherever they decide to go next.
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Daily Bruin
First Aid Kit has put a bandage on a slowly dying genre of music – folk-rock.
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The Times
A decade on, Klara has been through serious heartbreak and the sisters have toured the world, fallen out with each other and reassessed the value of growing up in public. The result is ample material for their best album so far.
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We Plug Good Music
Overall, this is a strong album that deals with its thematic content well, despite the possibility that this qualitative remark is due in part to the extent to which the Söderberg sisters limited the scope of what they were writing about.
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Qmunicate Magazine
The addition of meaty guitar-sounds, organ and pedal steel make sure that, in contrast to older albums, the songs never merge into one, but are distinctly different, while delivered with the same charm and emotion.
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Under the Radar Mag
First Aid Kit does not reinvent the wheel on this fourth record. Ruins sticks to the well-trodden path of Americana, and does so with guns blazing.
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Renowed for Sound
Ruins, while representing what is left after a breakup, celebrates the beauty of a past relationship and the late optimistic realisation to move on. In this album, the Swedish sisters’ voices naturally complement each other and elegantly harmonise together, resulting in a record full of emotions and personality.
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Exepose
Ruins is not a ruined album. Rather, it is a record of angst that mostly everyone can relate to. What makes it exquisite, however, is their unrelatable ability to make harmonies like angelic Swedish songbirds.
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Pretty Much Amazing
Ruins isn’t a bad record, or a weak one, it’s a boring one.
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All Music
Ruins is never complacent, though, keeping its rough, rustic edges, and allowing for the sounds of fingers on frets on quieter tunes like "To Live a Life." Lyrics don't put on a false front, either, and that's ultimately what makes the album linger -- from a title track that leaves us "Standing amongst ticket stubs and written notes and photographs" to a closer that loses track of time in search of a place that feels like home.
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Sputnik Music
Just a little shinier than before.
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Earbuddy
First Aid Kit have expanded their sound for sure, but they lack the natural roar of their earliest albums.
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LSU Now
All in all, this is a great album that sweetly balances soft, girl indie and country feelings. Don’t be fooled, as it is a little on the sleepy side. Perhaps, though, we should just let the vibe of this album be what it will be, and accept the most heartfelt modern-day country we can find.
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Spectrum Pulse
I think Ruins will hold as a transitional record for First Aid Kit, both in the content and sound in processing a breakup and a pivot into something with more organic, earthy foundation in comparison to the misty layers of Stay Gold.
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C-Ville
The rub of their voices creates an intense pungency that might get old—I like Ruins best when it dials back, as on “Postcard,” an honest country song; “To Live a Life,” an arrestingly lovely lullaby afloat on glowing pedal steel; and the surprisingly wry “Hem of Her Dress.”
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Financial Times
Slide guitars pull long faces, acoustic guitars shimmer, songs unfold with formulaic smoothness.
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The Perfect Tempo
Through heartbreak First Aid Kit have crafted the best album of their career, never has the breakdown of a relationship sounded so grand and cinematic before.
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Radio UTD
First Aid Kit's latest offering reflects on the past and looks at it through various different lenses. Their Americana style from their previous work is still present, but more refined than ever, and sometimes mixed with elements from other genres such as dream pop. Although sometimes their lyrics are just skating by, overall the project is a solid release with a strong theme.
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Alt Philanthropy
This project definitively screams heartbreak as the underlying thesis, but the arrangement of songs does not follow a linear progression of emotions. Of course, heartbreak does not have a set-in-stone feelings timeline, but Ruins resembles a puzzle with all the right pieces some of the wrong place.
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A.V. Club Music
First Aid Kit delivers more ’70s folk-rock mastery with Ruins.
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The 13th Floor
So yes Ruins on one hand is just another country folk heartbreak album but what an album of heartbreak it is. But like all great fairytales there is something timeless in the storytelling. The combination of the sisters tight harmonies and pedal steel, strings and drums in this uncluttered collection of songs allows it to sit proudly.
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Brooklyn Vegan
It’s the complex arrangements, and the depth and darkness in the Söderberg sisters’ songwriting that makes Ruins a cut above the rest.
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Medium
First Aid Kit soothe’s the pain of heartbreak with their sweet harmony on ‘Ruins’.
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Relix
But that’s what ruins are—memories of something that once existed, a physical reminder of something great you can point at, yet know isn’t quite the same. First Aid Kit’s Ruins is kind of like that.
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TIME
Ruins brings them into the present, integrating waltzing melodies and a few honky-tonk chords into sweetly sung tunes that sound lush and timeless.
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The Revue
Ruins is quite triumphant and continues to show the growth within First Aid Kid with their newest release. It’s a wonderful set of 10 tracks to either satisfy the die hard fans or introduce others to their often underrated talent.
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Immortal Reviews
First Aid Kit mends broken pasts in Ruins, using the burdens of their past to help them start moving forward. This Norwegian sister duo definitely knows loss and pain, and it really comes out powerfully on the record. The emotions are raw and the music follows accordingly. Not every song is a hit, but every song has meaning, each of which will take you back to your own times of uncertainty and make sure you're able to forge ahead.
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Giglist
Overall, Ruins is a journey into heartache in all of its shades. This is First Aid Kit being deliciously dark and basically making us bawl again, but consistently adding more musical gems to their oeuvre.
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There Goes the Fear
‘Ruins’ is a mature album for two women still so young, but its real strength lies in its sense of resilience. There is very little about this album that feels jaded, despite heavy thematic material and a vintage folk musical style.
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Varsity
Swedish folk duo return with their dreamy Ruins, that while imperfect, is a “brilliant testament of the healing powers of music."
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Spectrum Culture
Ruins sounds like a failed copy of previously delightful pastiche.
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Get Some Magazine
Ruins doesn’t really challenge their sound too much, and really highlights the joyous sound of Soderberg sister’s amazing voices.
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Backseat Mafia
"Ruins" sees the Söderberg sisters refine their particularly quirky, joyfully melancholy, well-honed and knowing, yet terrifically authentic country sound in a slick, cohesive LP.
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Nouse
Ruins is an impressive, lyrically interesting record that deftly avoids the pitfalls one might expect of it. Its hummable tunes are underpinned by a heartfelt emotional centre that makes the album a success.
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Stack
If there’s anything to gain from Ruins it’s that even the trials of everyday life sound beautiful when sung by First Aid Kit.
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The Way He Sings
It’s a fine addition to First Aid Kit’s live repertoire, but a general disappointment when the band needed an opening single to push them into the mainstream where they deserve.
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God Is In The T.V.
First Aid Kit have come a long way since I first caught them at Leicester’s Summer Sundae Weekender when they were barely out of their school gym slips, but even then, it was very apparent that there was something special about them. I’m glad to say they’ve kept the magic.
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Culture Fly
This is music that will stand the test of time. Vocally, it is stunning; tonally, it is by turns mystic and pastoral; lyrically, it is mature beyond its creators’ years. Heck, even the cover looks classic. A triumphant return by Sweden’s new greatest musical export.
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Young Post
Ruins had the chance to be fresh and exciting, but the pairs own lack of direction ruined it.
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Collegiate Times
It is a heartfelt and sincere package of music that elicits positive emotions and generally put me in a good mood, which is all I can really ask for. The tone isn’t always happy, it isn’t always upbeat and thumping, but when it is, it really sticks out. In the case of this album, it’s great when it’s good, and boy did it make me smile. I give “Ruins” four out of five stars.
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Tarka Blowpig Music
This is a very fine record that deserves the wide audience it will surely get.
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Treble Zine
Pained and intensely vulnerable, First Aid Kit's songs speak of universal experiences.
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The Student Playlist
First Aid Kit’s third album ‘Ruins’ suffers from same-iness, but the Soderberg sisters are in fine vocal form and it’s a comforting, if rarely challenging listen.
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Grooves in the Groove
Ruins doesn’t seem to have the impact that their last albums Stay Gold & The Lion’s Roar had. This mainly boils down to not poor, but uncompelling production, feeling like standard production for a mainstream orchestrated folk record, and run-of-the-mill song structure, without really any punch or unique qualities. Despite this, Ruins is still a strong return for the duo .
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The Arts Desk
Swedish sisters are a legacy in the making.
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LONDON IN STEREO
From their vocals alone, you would never guess that Swedish sisters, Klara and Johanna, are both in their twenties. As their voices and lyrics embody such distinguished intelligence and wisdom beyond their age, as if they are two old-souls who have experienced another generation or two upon this planet.
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Audioxide
Ruins lacks the creativity that we have come to expect. The record opts for expansive arrangements that focus on fancy ornamentation, and it rarely pays off as much as it should. It settles for being pleasant and pretty. We all know First Aid Kit can go further than that.
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Audioxide
The album’s brand of comfortable and pleasant can work, and I daresay it will for plenty of listeners, but I don’t care much for it. First Aid Kit are usually such a breath of fresh air was because they don’t sound like they do on Ruins.
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Audioxide
Ruins stands as an enjoyable, yet slightly safe, entry into the band’s discography. .
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505 Reasons to Believe the Hype
Overall, ‘Ruins’ is an album of refinement. Its twangy sweet melodies floats along in a very pleasing way, and its lulls are easily forgotten. Though there isn’t a real change in direction for first Aid Kit, they prove that at the very least, they are consistent in their sound, and they are pretty damn good at it too.
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Kurrent Music
Candor, power and straightforwardness of this record sets the bar high not only for the future albums of First Aid Kit, but also for all the other folk/country acts.
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WIDR.fm
It’s the simplistic beauty that builds into a subtle show of harmony and talent. You don't even realize it’s happening till it happens and all of sudden your like “woah” this is a ballad. They are two beautifully deceptive trick folks songs.
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Not Your Groupie
“Ruins” offers fans much of what they already adore about the Swedish folk duo: hollering harmonies, echoing percussion, and their Swedish country twang. In my opinion, while I do not foresee this becoming my most-listened-to First Aid Kit record, it is another gem of a stepping stone on their journey to becoming one of the most respected musical acts of their time.
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POP Magazine
The balance of inspiration . . . shows First Aid Kit’s true range as a music group, and I hope to hear more from the Soderberg sisters in that vein.
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PressPLAY OK
Let’s be honest: no one comes to First Aid Kit for a surprise. Then again no one else does what they do quite as well as they do. It’s a polished act that ticks the yearning of the middle-aged for days gone by, with Ruins a comfort blanket of a record for both fans and First Aid Kit alike. It’s going to take something dramatic to veer them off their current course; for now it’s steady if a little bit unremarkable.
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Split Tooth Media
The landmark that First Aid Kit reaches here isn’t in individual numbers — it’s in figuring out how to tell the whole story, line by line.
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Tune Groover
The entire album is brilliant and dare I say, for lack of a less-cliched synonym, haunting.
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Dork
‘Ruins’ cements First Aid Kit’s place in the Americana songbook.
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Jackdaw Journalism
It's this deeply woven, powerful lyric/story-writing that's translated through the vocals of the Söderberg sisters that just creates a powerful and deeply encompassing melody, this sort of song crafting allows the listener to mellow down after a stressful day, supplying release and comfort in the pure, spectacular voices of First Aid Kit.
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University Observer
Still firmly in the country-folk mould, Ruins manages to be both feel-good and heavy-hearted, proving a thoroughly enjoyable listen.
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Bernard Zuel
If there is a downside to the way the sisters have built this album it is that holding the full sadness in, or balancing it with optimistic sounds and tempo changes, strangely leaves you looking for the killer song that will nail the hurt.
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Global Comment
Ruins is a wonderful gem — and a great introduction to the band, should you need one — but I can’t wait to see what First Aid Kit does next.
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The Inspirer
Ruins is a work of art showing the evolution of First Aid Kit’s music and breaking hearts while doing so. The album contains some of the duo’s best songs yet and is captivating from start to finish.
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Rockcellar Magazine
Ruins is a gorgeous listen — both thanks to the sisters’ vocals and the production but also the songs themselves.
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FLOOD Magazine
Its instrumentation slowly swells along with the sense of sorrow in the song, before ending in an abrupt and unexpected burst of feedback. And while Ruins doesn’t quite beat out their debut album, it’s certainly the sisters’ best record since.
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High Desert
Overall, ‘Ruins’ is an album of refinement. Its twangy sweet melodies floats along in a very pleasing way, and its lulls are easily forgotten. Though there isn’t a real change in direction for first Aid Kit, they prove that at the very least, they are consistent in their sound, and they are pretty damn good at it too.
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Daily Mail
Perhaps one day First Aid Kit will push through their ingrained politeness to fulfil their destiny as a folk-rock Abba. For now, Ruins keeps them on track.
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New Whistle
Their rich, pastoral harmonies deliver the words while the music courses with quiet intent and insistence. Fans of Brandi Carlile and the Cranberries (RIP Delores) should take note. They are traveling the same mountain pass, or seaside fjord, as the case may be. Grab your backpack, and clear your calendar.
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