The thing about Folk music, like any good genre, is that the same sorts of things keep happening over and over again and the good stuff works because it feels like it's right now. Using a really strong duet, which is a trick that has worked for Simon & Garfunkel and the Indigo Girls, as well as First Aid Kit, Bad Strangers is able to slip in some serious messaging about the sacrifices we all make for the people and things we love. Somehow they still keep us tapping our toes.
Riffing off each other's voice is as natural as breathing for Bad Strangers. The harmonies are clear and precisely indifferent to one another, like two lovers shouting across a canyon.