Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 110 Best Albums of the 2010s, representing a varied cross-section of artists, genres, and styles. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & album index here.
FIRST AID KIT | Stay Gold
Columbia (2014)
Selected by Justin Chadwick
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Though it seems like such a long time ago now, I vividly recall seeing The White Stripes play a free show in Manhattan’s Union Square during my lunchbreak back in October of 2002 and being completely awestruck by witnessing two people—Jack and Meg White, of course—conjuring such a potent, all-encompassing sound. Fast forward roughly ten years later, and I was struck with a similar case of incredulity upon hearing the crystalline, otherworldly harmonizing power of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg on their second album The Lion’s Roar (2012). Immediately and irrevocably, I fell madly in love with their voices, but my affection would swell much further with the arrival of their stirring follow-up effort Stay Gold. As best evidenced in the symphonic shuffle of “My Silver Lining,” the charging “Master Pretender,” and the gorgeously self-reflective “Shattered & Hollow,” the dynamic duo’s soaring, symbiotic vocal prowess and knack for rich, heartrending melodies are fully and fantastically manifested from the first to the last note of this divine album that demands to be played again and again and again.
LISTEN & WATCH: