Prophetic Parallels: First Aid Kit’s “The Lion’s Roar” and “When The Trees All Burned”
Music Monday 1: a deep dive into one of the songs on the series soundtrack
The haunting lyrics of First Aid Kit's "The Lion's Roar" resonate deeply with the themes and imagery in When The Trees All Burned. Released in January 2012 as the title track of the Swedish folk duo's second album, the song carries a weight that seems almost prophetic when paired with my upcoming novel. First Aid Kit, composed of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg, created an album that reached number one in Sweden and found international acclaim, with this particular song later being featured in the TV series Misfits and the survival video game "The Long Dark" - an interesting connection given the survival themes in my work.
The song's opening lines about "the pale morning" singing of "forgotten things" mirror the novel's exploration of a world on the brink of destruction, where the old ways are about to be forgotten. Just as the song speaks of being "blindly deceived by those who preach and pray and teach," the novel presents Rajiv Montgomery Noah as a prophet figure whose warnings go unheeded by most of the world.
Lions prowl through every layer of the book’s narrative - from the brass lion figurine that young Rajiv receives from his dying mother - a talisman that connects him to his destiny - to the lion-masked soldiers who carry out The Reaping. Later in the novel, a stunning new detail is revealed that feels almost mythologically aligned with First Aid Kit's lyrics about a lion's roar that leads to both terror and salvation - a force that separates loved ones but potentially leads to preservation. The song's line "And I never really knew what to do" echoes the helplessness felt by characters like Maxine and Bonnie when faced with the idea of separation. “Both or neither,” they vow to each other, but only the algorithm of Rajiv Montgomery Noah can determine whether this a promise they can keep.
The song's yearning for predictability ("I wish you were a little more predictable / That I could read you just like a book") contrasts sharply with the novel's embrace of inevitable chaos, yet both works acknowledge that sometimes salvation comes through accepting the unpredictable nature of fate.
Perhaps most poignantly, the song's reference to Rosemary Hill as a place of potential reunion mirrors the hope embedded in Rajiv's Eden - a sanctuary where some might find their way back to each other after the world's destruction. The "lonesome wail of a lion's roar" becomes both a cry of separation and a beacon calling the chosen home.
The Söderberg sisters, with their haunting harmonies and poetic lyrics, created something that transcends its original context. While they couldn't have known their song would find such perfect resonance with a novel about the end of the world, the universal themes of loss, separation, and the hope of reunion speak to the timeless nature of both works. Just as First Aid Kit found international acclaim with this album, expanding beyond their Swedish roots to touch listeners worldwide, the themes in When The Trees All Burned reach beyond its apocalyptic setting to explore the very human experience of being torn from those we love, and the eternal hope of finding our way back.
