Album Commentary: First Aid Kit - The Lion’s Roar

On The Lion’s Roar First Aid Kit offers but band-aids for mortal wounds. The album is a walk through a sullen, emotional forest. Thick like a fog, themes of inadequacy, regret, division (both personal and interpersonal), and disorientation hug the listener warmly throughout. And the remedy presented is an unrelenting optimism without reason that seems the natural survival instinct of they who were raised in a culture built during long, harsh, snow laden winters.

And don’t misread me. Every bit of this is beautiful.

And often times even cheery.

And, my biggest critique is the high count of lines that begin with “and.”

Highlights are The Lion’s Roar, Emmylou, and Blue.

“and i’m a goddamn coward, but then again so are you
and the lion’s roar, the lion’s roar
has me evading and hollering for you
and i never really knew what to do”

“Now so much I know, that things just don’t grow
If you don’t bless them with your patience.
And I’ve been there before, I held up the door
For every stranger with a promise.
But I’m holding back
That’s the strength that I lack”

“There’s nothing more to it,
I just get through it.
Oh, there’s nothing more to it
I just get through it
Oh, there’s nothing more to it
I just get through it”