First the Winter is an acoustic folk rock duo hailing from the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Heavily influenced by singer-songwriters like Damien Rice and Glen Hansard, much of their music presents a raw, somewhat dark view of love and relationships.

The duo is comprised of Jimmy Stewart and Aili Emilia, who began writing and playing music together in Minneapolis, MN in the summer of 2015. Jimmy is a classically trained pianist who taught himself to play the guitar to try to win a certain ballerina's heart (and subsequently wrote a lot of depressing songs when that plan failed). Aili is that certain ballerina, as well as a talented vocalist.