By The Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit have released their latest single: ‘It’s a Shame’. The track may be the lead single from the follow up to 2014’s ‘Stay Gold’, but it’s the first release since ‘You Are The Problem Here’: a single in honour of International Women’s Day, condemning sexual violence.
Sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg stated that ‘It’s a Shame’ was about the ‘emptiness and desperation you feel after a relationship has come to an end. How you will go to great lengths just to numb the pain, and feel less lonely’.
What’s not a shame is the characteristic harmonies we’ve previously heard from First Aid Kit on ‘Stay Gold’, and in particular the longingly hopeless vocals replicated from their cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘America’.
‘It’s a Shame’ is a polished piece of Americana folk-rock; the titular lyric is used heavily and repetitively to evoke the sense of hapless love and emptiness. Despite being a sad song, ‘It’s a Shame’ is wrapped up in an up-tempo melody. Yearning vocals decipher fleeting romance, and folk instrumentation creates the perfect juxtaposition of an American summer.
