The flaws are part of the live experience. We decided not to edit any of the performances. Allow yourself to just disappear into Cohen’s world for a little while. This is definitely a record that is best enjoyed listening to back-to-back with no interruptions. The band, the guest artists, the atmosphere on stage… everyone had a great passion and it felt magical. Dwelling deeply into Cohen’s world was a pleasure, he was so prolific as both a poet and a songwriter, and everything he ever put out held a very strong standard. It was something we’d never done before, but everything came together so well. It was a challenge to create a performance that wasn’t centered around First Aid Kit songs. We recently listened back to this concert and realized that this was something out of the ordinary for us. Here’s what they said about why they’re finally releasing it: The two sisters of First Aid Kit bring along a host of friends as well as a massive orchestra to create what was the greatest of all the tributes that followed Cohen’s passing. Recorded during two nights at Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theater in 2017 and aired on Swedish TV, the concert mesmerizingly blends his hits and deep cuts with dramatic readings of Cohen’s poetry. Maybe they got sick of my constant yammering about it… It finally, belatedly, is! Who By Fire comes out March 26, containing every song from the concert. Last fall, in our Best Leonard Cohen Covers Ever article, I wrote, “It is beyond me how no record label has yet turned First Aid Kit’s magisterial 2017 tribute concert into a proper album.” Back when they first performed it, I wrote, “If they had released the soundtrack, this might have been our favorite covers album of 2017.” And pretty much every other time I’ve mentioned it, I’ve expressed my bafflement that this brilliant performance was not released as a proper album.

First aid kit leonard cohen