They are women fronting a superior pop-rock band, but Haim's patron saints are not Christine McVie or Stevie Nicks. Danielle Haim's guitar lines (especially on the gloriously strange “My Song 5”) spend as much time in the heavens as they do plumbing the darkness. There are few traditional pop chord changes on “Days Are Gone,” and those harmonies are always pretty but decorated with shouts, growls and intricate chants. This is about the Haim sisters consistently taking the strangest, most rewarding path toward a melodic hook.
#Review haim days are gone mac#
We’ll have to wait until the band’s second release to see if they’re more than a one-trick pony, but if HAIM can continue making music of this caliber, the wait will be well worth it.The comparison is made so frequently that it is starting to mean almost nothing, so this question addresses an ongoing problem: Why does Haim's stunning debut album, “Days Are Gone,” sound like Fleetwood Mac to so many people? The answer lies not in how the voices of Danielle, Este and Alana Haim blend together on songs such as “Falling” and “If I Could Change Your Mind,” or some sort of amorphous geographical answer, as if California explains everything.
While the older songs included are indeed good (there’s a reason HAIM blew up so quickly), more new material would have been welcome. Imagine Dragons, Atlas Genius, and Foster the People are just a few bands that have fallen victim to this. Bands that see success early-on frequently want to release the songs that were made popular before their breakthrough on the first studio album. The biggest issue with the album is a problem that many new bands suffer from - a lack of new material. Also of note is penultimate track “Let Me Go,” which tastefully blends soul with electronically produced percussion beats with their alternative rock sound into a single slick package. A prime example of that diversity comes on “My Song 5” - confusingly placed as the eighth track - which strays into grunge and blues-rock while Danielle gives a cathartic recount of a particularly nasty break up. However, the impressive part is HAIM’s excursions into other genres. The classic rock intros to the delightfully catchy “Honey & I” and spunky fourth single “The Wire” - complete with frequent “Heys!” to emphasize certain lines - will certainly solidify that parity. The most apt comparison of the band would be to Fleetwood Mac, but to pigeon-hole HAIM as a copycat would be a disservice. The band is taking the alternative rock scene by storm, touring with groups including Florence + the Machine and Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, and has been featured by the likes of Kid Cudi and Major Lazer. HAIM is composed of the three Haim sisters - Este (bass), Danielle (vocals, guitar), and Alana (keys, rhythm guitar) - and drummer Dash Hutton. After one listen to “Days Are Gone,” I realized this too was a mistake. The second was the assumption that they were just another substandard, radio-friendly alternative rock band blown up by the media hype machine. The first was the assumption the band’s name rhymed with ‘aim’ - it actually rhymes with ‘time,’ with an emphasis on the ‘ime,’ in order to match the Israeli pronunciation of the word, which means life.
When I first heard of HAIM I made two mistakes. Review Summary: HAIM, pronounced “high-eem”
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