Album Review: Haim- Days Are Gone

For the title of “Most Fun Album 2013,” I have to wonder who would win in the fight between Jenn Wasner’s and Jon Ehrens’ Dungeonesse, or the sisters Haim

In May, when the self-titled Dungeonesse LP dropped, I declared the entire thing my “summertime jam 2013.” Had Haim (pronounced Hyme) even been on my radar at that point, I think that I would have had a brain aneurism trying to decide between the two.

Prior to hearing Haim’s incredible single, “The Wire,” they were a name I saw in music press, attached to three girls who were all very snappy dressers. Without hearing any of their material, I wrote them off as another garage rock girl-group.

Man, was I wrong.

We should all be feeling really blessed that the sisters Haim—Danielle, Este, and Alana, have the kind of ridiculous comprehension of pop music that they demonstrate on their debut full-length, Days Are Gone. Combining elements of 80s and early 90s Top 40 pop and R&B, but keeping things modern enough so that it’s never derivative, Haim have made an amazingly catchy, danceable, and fun record that grows better the further you listen.

In listening to Days Are Gone in the car with my wife, I kept turning to her and said, “Can you even believe how good this album is!? It’s like you think they’ve written the perfect pop song, but then you get to the next song and you’re like ‘Holy shit, this one is even better!’”

Days Are Gone is, needless to say, a well-made album. It’s built around fully realized ideas, and it sounds like it cost a small fortune to make. Had the sisters Haim skimped on the budget, or gone with a more lo-fi aesthetic, none of this would work at all. The sheer size of the production values only helps bring out the intention in these songs.

Opening with the triple shot of “Falling,” “Forever,” and “The Wire,” it’s almost, like, TOO much pop right out of the gate. “Falling” exudes straight up 1980 FM radio vibes, while “Forever” and “The Wire” are the kind of top down, speakers up jams that you can’t help but feel good as soon as they come on.

Structurally, Days Are Gone never slows down. Even on the slower jams, say the fittingly titled “Go Slow,” and the closing track “Running If You Call My Name,” the incredibly nostalgic vibe keep the pacing clipping along.

The sisters Haim only break character a few times on Days Are Gone. The indie shuffle “Honey and I,” tells the story of moving on after a messy break up. While it’s removed slightly from the overall context of the LP, it is the kind of song that someone like Leslie Feist only wishes she could write. Don’t be surprised when you hear this in a Starbucks, if it hasn’t made it there already.

The second more modern, or at least less-retro sounding track is the anthemic “Let Me Go.” Spending the less than a minute on the restrained side, it escalates quickly, building until it explodes with a fist pumping rhythm, a crunchy lead guitar, and some impressive overlapping vocal tracks.

The incredibly lusty “My Song 5” (presumably titled after a Garageband file name) is probably the most contemporary sounding song. Powered by some St. Vincent-esq guitar theatrics, the song puts an emphasis on wonky sounding synthesizers and big compressed drums—making it so that it would not sound out of place alongside any track produced by Timbaland. All it would need his him saying “baby girl” over part of it, and you’d be all set.

By the time Days Are Gone ends, really, any female pop star who had a solid run of hits in the 1980s and 90s should be incredibly jealous that they couldn’t capture this kind of straight up fun in their recorded output. If the sisters Haim came filing out of a Delorean, it would make perfect sense—songs “If I Could Change Your Mind” and “Don’t Save Me” transcend what could be called an “homage” with how flat out amazing they are.

A lot of “pop” music in 2013 is pretty dumb. People don’t want to think about music—they want something catchy; something that’s vapid; and in recent cases, something that is super rapey. Haim prove throughout the course of this record that pop music doesn’t have to be this way. Days Are Gone is like everything you’d want in a dream date—self-aware, fun, and unprecedentedly smart.


Days Are Gone is available Monday, September 30th, via Columbia Records.

And as an added bonus, Haim recently recorded a cover of Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" for BBC Radio 1. Needless to say, it's PRETTY good.