Haim's "Days" Have Only Just Begun

Though Haim’s 2012 EP “Forever” garnered the Los Angeles band comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, their debut album, “Days Are Gone,” places the trio of sisters somewhere on the spectrum between riot grrrl and Spice Girls—half punk, half pop, and wholly rooted in the feminist sensibilities of the 1990s. Drawing influences from genres ranging from 1980s glam and synthpop to modern pop and R&B, Haim manage to escape the homogeneity that dominates so much of the indie music scene today, by crafting a sound that is as unique as it is appealing.

Haim are frequently described as having a retro sound, but “Days Are Gone” presents a much more forward thinking image of the band than their earlier EPs indicated. For all the ’70s and ’80s influences that float on the surface of previously released  songs like “Forever” and “Falling,” the tracks on “Days Are Gone” are characterized not by the sparkling synths, booming drums, and thudding bass that give the songs their throwback feel, but by the perfectly crafted pop hooks that lie beneath the veneer. Sans shimmery production and based on melodic and harmonic structure alone, “Go Slow” could as easily have been sung by Kelly Clarkson as by the Haim sisters, while “The Wire,” with its crisp finger snaps and neat harmonies, would not sound out of place on a Top 40 radio station.

The three opening tracks of “Days Are Gone” have all been released previously as singles, and placing the trio at the fore of the album is a gutsy move on Haim’s part. But the rest of the album exceeds expectations as Haim move away from classic pop structure to more experimental material—“Running If You Call My Name” and “Days Are Gone” are both reminiscent of “Oracular Spectacular”-era MGMT, layered over dreamy, drug-hazed backgrounds. Haim make its biggest gamble with “My Song 5,” which begins with a brassy, hair metal-esque guitar riff and evolves into what is undoubtedly the most innovative track on the album: breathy, R&B-tinged vocals over a dark main melody with a dull, synthesized buzz below. There is something sexy about the track, something appealing in the gritty guitar, the funky syncopation, the high-pitched vocals. The track possesses the same je ne sais quoi that catapulted the previously unknown Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” to the top of the charts seven years ago. With “My Song 5,” Haim push at the boundaries of both retro and indie, and in doing so, creates music that for all its strangeness is as catchy as any pop song.

The album’s sole flaw is a slight lull around the 15-minute mark, with “If I Could Change Your Mind” and “Honey & I.” Both are sweet, well-crafted tracks—they simply lack the brashness and earworm choruses that one comes to expect from Haim. That they could even be considered weaknesses is a testament to the band’s songwriting abilities and to the caliber of the rest of the album.

The Haim sisters may not be avowed feminists, but their lyrics have all the trappings of the “girl power” musical groups so prevalent two decades before. Songs like “Don’t Save Me” feature lines like “If your love isn’t strong / Baby, don’t save me,” while the oddball “My Song 5” is even more straightforward: “I am not your honey pie,” the sisters assert. In “Falling,” they croon, “no one’s ever enough”;  “Running If You Call My Name” bluntly proclaims, “I run away if you call my name.” Their assertions of female independence have rendered Haim strikingly popular among young women in the indie music scene, and it is not hard to believe that as their fame grows, so will their status as the feminist poster children du jour.

Each track on “Days Are Gone” ends surprisingly abruptly. The decision is a successful one, as it is difficult not to want more after each song concludes. “Days Are Gone” is, from start to finish, a stellar work, as Haim combine the strengths of the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s into a solid debut album that hopefully prophecies even better music to come.