With one foot on the gas and one eye on the rearview mirror it has the dapper bravado of Tom Petty at his most coolly astute, “Take me back / Take me back to the song / How’d it used to go?” If you dig beneath these pop licks, there’s a real soul. The last of Haim’s four singles so far is the slick, whipcrackin’ “Don’t Save Me”. Raybans on, hood down, handclaps n’ glitter, sunny delight stomp. UK hit “The Wire” then shimmies seductively from the ’70s glam kick of the Purple One’s “Peach” to the ’80s MTV pastel pop of Rod Stewart’s “Baby Jane”.
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If Jacko moonwalked by at this point and squealed “Heeee! Haaaa!” you wouldn’t spill your tea. “Forever” is all teasing ‘stop-start’, Prince percussive crunch and “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” shakin’ guitar licks. “If it gets rough, it’s time to get rough,” cries Danielle inexplicably whilst rallying the troops like some street-tough gang from The Warriors albeit with nicer hair. The punchy “Falling” still kicks like Jacko’s “Beat It” rollerblading across the sunkissed boardwalks of Venice beach.
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The first half carries the singles and is therefore ‘Killer no filler’. Luckily Days Are Gone is pretty much as good as y’all hoped it’d be. …Let’s just say there’s a lot riding on this record being “Quite good, actually”. Haim release sharp and generously gratis début EP Forever! ‘Groove is in the heart’ singles “Falling”, “Don’t Save Me” and “The Wire” are unleashed and folks generally agree “YES! MORE!” Lots of people with beards choose words including “Mac” and “Fleetwood”! Este Haim’s bassface becomes “Eighth Wonder of World”! Haim win prestigious BBC Sound of 2013 Poll… and bizarrely a NME award for Best Twitterer! Band plays every festival ever! Three times! Haim album gets delayed and acquires mythical status (Title rumoured to be Haim (TBC))! British Prime Minister called in to ‘sort out’ album delay shenanigans by making Haim perform a private gig for him live on BBC TV! Album released the very next day…. But destiny wasn’t for waiting and so our three fledgling funkateers solemnly swore a ‘death or glory’ bloodoath as HAIM! Cue “Previously on Haim” montage…. The Haimsters soon become “Valli Girls” and their “Valli Nation” track adorns ( naturellement) the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants soundtrack. Yes, when sensible teens were swotting for exams Haim’s folks had them rockin’ from dusk ’til dawn in their family combo “Rockinhaim”. Three multi-talented siblings - Danielle, Alana and Este - who were baptised in the dark arts of rock ‘n’ roll by their own parents. They’re an eminently likeable, albeit slightly kooky, trio whose story already bears the frisson of legend.
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It is endlessly, impossibly, intoxicatingly listenable.It’d be hard to truly dislike Haim. But HAIM's Days Are Gone challenges them all, and with none of the same available avenues for backlash.
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The monuments to 21st century luxury pop, Timberlake's 20/20 Experience(s) and Daft Punk's Random Access Memories have dominated the radio cycle, while My Bloody Valentine and David Bowie have made much-heralded returns after long hiatuses, and Kanye's inexhaustibly creative Yeezus impressed me to literally no end while leaving millions of others bewildered. This is a statement one doesn't disseminate lightly - 2013 has been a banner year for music thus far. And it's a treasure, arguably the best album of the year. Danielle and Este first popped up briefly in 2005, as members of another band that had a single track make its way onto The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' soundtrack, but Days Are Gone, coming to us today through, of all places, Jay-Z's Roc Nation, is their debut album and first, real extended moment of exposure. Named Danielle, Este & Alana Haim, they grew up in SoCal's San Fernando Valley, bumping classic rock and rocking out with their musically-inclined parents from an early age onward. They're sisters (the band's fourth and final member, drummer Dash Hutton, holds no relation to the other three.other, that is, than the ability to produce fantastic music). If news of this band is new to you, and you're wondering what in the world HAIM even stands for, just realize that it's a capitalized iteration of the bandmates' last names.