Top 12 Albums of 2014: First Aid Kit — Stay Gold
The most basic description of First Aid Kit’s sound, “two young sisters singing folk songs in harmony,” while technically correct, brings to mind a wispy little sound. It fails to capture the lush, sweeping beauty of Stay Gold. (It doesn’t even fully describe 2012’s The Lion’s Roar, a much less ornate-sounding — and also very worthy-of-a-listen — album.) This is Exhibit B of an orchestral sound done beautifully right. (Exhibit A, if you missed it.)
Every song on here is a shimmering, thoroughly melodic gem, but during a recent music discussion, the topic of “favorite song of 2014” came up, and I eventually committed: it’s the title track of this album.
Like a number of my favorite songs, it references a sunset (someday we’ll talk about that commonality — it is, after all, the reason for this blog’s title). A double literary reference — Frost and The Outsiders — is also hard to resist, whether or not both were even intentional (artist Instagram photos say they probably were). Gorgeous strings make an appearance. Check. Harmonies. Check.
Yet becoming a favorite song isn’t simply satisfying criteria on a list. There’s a subjective and often sudden emotional component. One day, “Stay Gold” just slammed me in the heart: the verses describing the passage of time and wishing desperately to go back to a time that was simpler or more beautiful, even if just in retrospect.
The chorus that questions those common words of encouragement — about love, persistence, and trust — casting doubt even on that self-talk that’s supposed to comfort us. Where do you go when even that doesn’t work? The pull of going back is almost unbearably physical sometimes. “But there is only forward, no other way,” the song reminds us. Yes. I’ll try.
Note 1: This Top 12 list is not ranked. It’s generally a good idea to have 2014 coverage be published in 2014. Before Christmas, even. If I had to rank these, we wouldn’t be done until next August.
Note 2: More on the “Put Your Money Where Your Typing Is” selection methodology here. Short version: These are the 12 albums I bought on CD/vinyl/both this year.
