For First Aid Kit, a healthier approach, a lighter sound

Klara Söderberg understands that lyrics are like mantras.

As half of the Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit, it’s a lesson the folk singer and guitarist learned the hard way, after repeating songs from the album “Ruins” throughout 2018 and early 2019. She belted gutting lines like “I am incomplete” and “Nothing matters, all is futile” at shows from Austin to Australia, until the cumulative weight of her words pushed her to a breaking point. The band eventually canceled their summer dates for 2019, citing “unforeseen medical circumstances.”

Four years and one pandemic later, Söderberg and her sister, Johanna, have returned to the road, equipped with an uplifting new album and their healthiest dynamic as a band to date. First Aid Kit bring their 2022 record “Palomino” to Roadrunner on Sunday, marking their first performance in Boston since 2018.

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The sharp contrast in recent album titles illustrates a mental and musical shift for the duo. “Ruins” mines a breakup for inward-looking songs about heartache and insecurity, while “Palomino” gazes outward, galloping toward a lighter head space and poppier sound.

The record’s relaxed air trickled down to the pacing of First Aid Kit’s North American tour, which is divided into three segments between May and September. Söderberg says the current “Palomino” era is the first time the band hasn’t felt compelled to move at breakneck speed.

“It was like we were on this train and it just kept going, and the thought of even stepping off for a second wouldn’t cross our minds because we were just so focused on the road ahead,” she says.

The band’s constant hustle was a tough habit to kick. The sisters have devoted an enormous chunk of their lives to First Aid Kit. They scored their first record deal as teenagers, and Johanna withdrew from high school in 2008 so the band could tour internationally (this wasn’t an issue for Klara, who never even had the chance to begin high school.)

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But the sterling work ethic that paved the way for First Aid Kit’s career also formed a deep rut of burnout. The next decade revealed a rigorous schedule of recording, touring, and promotion that left Klara and Johanna with little time to rest and enjoy their relationship as sisters. By 2019, Klara feared having a panic attack onstage. She also admits she was in denial about how diabetes affected her physical well-being on tour.

“At a certain point, your body does not care how much you want to be there,” Söderberg says. “It cannot physically [continue].”

First Aid Kit’s decision to cancel their summer performances in 2019 was, effectively, the first step toward resetting their work-life balance. But it was the COVID-19 pandemic that fully removed the sisters from touring mode. Free of any music-related obligations during quarantine, the sisters reconstructed their lifestyle in earnest. They started therapy together at home in Sweden. They also reevaluated their priorities, as Johanna welcomed her first child, and Klara embraced her new role as an aunt.

“We’ve learned that at the end of the day, what’s most important is not the band,” Söderberg explains. “We’ve kind of had to go like, ‘[Expletive] the band.’ If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but we have to take care of this relationship, and our sisterhood, and our friendship, because that’s what will be there always.”

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The solitude of the pandemic also distanced the sisters from outside expectations about creating new music. Far from the pressure of critics and deadlines, they pivoted to a poppier sound, something that Klara says she never would have allowed in the band’s early years.

“It was really important for us to prove that we knew about the genre,” she says, explaining how she used to establish rules about the band’s instrumentation. The strict parameters served as a safety net of sorts, protecting the band from any creative decision that could detract from their identity as serious folk musicians.

For instance, electric guitars were forbidden on their sophomore album, “The Lion’s Roar.” Hearing the 1980s-inspired synths propelling the pop slant of “Palomino” likely would have bowled over a younger Söderberg.

“As an 18-year-old making ‘The Lion’s Roar,’ I would’ve been like, ‘No way is there ever going to be like anything remotely ‘80s-sounding on anything,’ ” she says. “I just don’t have that anymore. I do not feel the need to prove myself.”

Instead, “Palomino” unapologetically prioritizes fun over first impressions, brimming with lyrics that serve as soothing antidotes for the self-deprecating nature of “Ruins.” “What has that fear ever done for me but hold me back?” the sisters ask on “Angel,” a song that pleads for compassion and self-forgiveness.

First Aid Kit reinvigorated the album earlier this month by releasing a deluxe version — titled the “Child of Summer Edition” — that includes four new songs and an “acoustic string” rendition of “Angel.”

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It’s a treat that arrived just in time for the band’s nine July dates, including this weekend’s show at Roadrunner.

“It’ll be fun to get to put one of those songs into the live set, have something new happen,” Söderberg says. “We just want to keep on exploring.”

FIRST AID KIT

With the Weather Station. At Roadrunner, July 16 at 8 p.m. $49.50. boweryboston.com

Victoria Wasylak can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @VickiWasylak.