FEATURE:
Running If You Call My Name
HAIM's Days Are Gone at Ten
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A modern-day classic debut…
IN THIS PHOTO: From left to right: Danielle, Alana and Este Haim/PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Beard
turns ten on 27th September. The brilliant HAIM (Los Angeles siblings Este (bass guitar and vocals), Danielle (lead vocals, guitar, and drums), and Alana Haim (guitars, keyboards, and vocals) unveiled this magnificent and instantly original and recognisable Days Are Gone back in 2013. Whereas some consider the album cool, breezy and sunny, I think it is this very rich and varied album that, even though it is considered a classic, never quite got the dues it earned. I am going to come to some reviews for the album. I would encourage people to pre-order the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. A group whose third studio album, Women in Music Pt. II, came out in 2020, this is where it all began (in album terms) for HAIM – with the truly remarkable Days Are Gone. I think the tenth anniversary is an important one to mark. It is a big milestone. And it also gives fans and the artist chance to reflect back a decade and see how their careers have progressed since then – and how the album in question has aged and resonated. With Days Are Gone, you have this stunning introduction that still sounds amazing to this day. I feel that Days Are Gone had an impact on current artists like Phoebe Bridgers and her band, boygenius. You can definitely hear elements of the album in other artists. The group have a special fondness for the U.K. and London. The first place where they got real recognition and a passionate fanbase, they recently played a headline slot at All Points East in London. This is what NME wrote in their five-star review:
“In little under a month, Haim‘s debut album ‘Days Are Gone’ turns 10 and later this week, they’ll perform the record in full at an intimate show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It’s fitting that they’ve come to the UK and All Points East to celebrate the big anniversary, as they tell the London crowd.
“London and the UK was the first place to ever embrace us so we actually call this home. The fact that all of you are here tonight is really crazy, because 10 years ago we were not playing to this many people and we are really grateful to be here. We want to thank every single one of you because this is why we do this. We want to bring happiness and to play music and this has blown our minds,” says youngest sister Alana with glassy eyes. At one point, the three have their hands cupped to their face, happiness and gratuity brimming from their eyes.
I will come to some reviews. It is important to get some context to Days Are Gone. Released on 27th September, 2013, it was a number one success in the U.K. Instantly confirming them as a group to watch, there was a lot of critical love for this incredible debut. Produced by James Ford, Ludwig Göransson, Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid, Days Are Gone seems to summon up visions of California in the summer. It has great harmonies and melodies. This is confidence and kookiness. Incredible songwriting and chemistry between the sisters. It is impossible to dislike HAIM or Days Are Gone. Their debut, to me, remains their most important work. There are a few interviews that caught my eye. A sense of what HAIM were saying and where they were a decade ago. The Guardian spoke to the trio about their growing fanbase (including xx and Primal Scream), how to pronounce their name (“High-im” – the Hebrew word for ‘life’), and those quite sparsely-populated early gigs:
“Their sound has not quite united critics – was this "west coast rock layered with R&B" or a "winning update of 80s US mainstream pop"? – but it was liked enough for Haim to be named the BBC's Sound of 2013 in January. Industry peers have put up noisy support, too, the Arctic Monkeys mooting a collaboration, the xx, Florence Welch, Katy Perry and Ryan Adams announcing themselves fans. "I'm like the fourth Haim sister," said Angel Haze, the Detroit rapper. "Honorary Jew shit."
Pondering all this encouragement, Alana said: "We're just happy they know how to pronounce our name." People tend to say Hame, which is wrong, or Hime, which will do. The girls say it the proper Israeli way (their father is from Jaffa) with a second-syllable hop at the end, High-im. It's the Hebrew word for life, which came to feel appropriate as I spent the day with them.
After one show in their local neighbourhood, Este and Danielle were invited to be a part of a pop quintet called the Valli Girls. Brightly clothed, dead-eyed, they hadn't a hope. One of their early songs was called It's a Hair Thing and featured the lyric "Grab your cell phone /Get your laptop /We're going out to have fun /And shop". Este: "It wasn't necessarily the music we wanted to be making." Danielle: "You live and learn."
Around 2007, Rockenhaim slimmed their line-up to sisters only, their name to Haim, added Dash on drums, and played a first show for about 80 people. This would be Haim's best-attended gig for a while. The sisters got used to playing around LA to crowds of 20, 10, three. "In general," Moti once said, "we had to beg people to come."
Este was studying for a music degree, in 2009, when Danielle was asked to play backing guitar for the singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis. At a New York gig with Lewis, she was spotted by the Strokes' founder Julian Casablancas, then looking to staff a band for his solo work. Danielle called her sister at college. Este: "I dropped the phone. I was like: 'Fuuuck this. My sister's going on tour with Julian Casablancas? Why am I here studying?' That really lit a fire up my ass, to make Haim happen."
Este was chairing her university's events committee at the time. "Trying to settle on a figure that didn't look too shady", she booked Haim to play on campus. "We got $1,000. So thank you very much, Este Haim." They spent the money following Casablancas on tour – all of them, Danielle, Este, Alana, even Moti, who drove. Every night, before Danielle played in Casablancas's band, Haim opened the show.
The former Stroke gave them advice. "Julian told us: disappear, come back in a year with stronger songs and hit the ground running." By the time Alana had finished high school the sisters had a new manager, Jon Lieberberg, and a producer, Ludwig Göransson. They put some early tracks online in February 2012, including the thrilling, twitchy break-up song Forever. A month later, gigging at South by South West in Texas, they caught the ear of a British DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs, then with Xfm. Hobbs played their stuff. Soon, Radio 1 did too.
Hobbs explained Haim's appeal to me: "Infectious melodies, hard-hitting hooks, choruses you could bawl. And they felt like a real gang." Polydor signed Haim that summer and they got an American deal with Columbia six months later. By then, the xx had been in touch, asking the sisters to support them when they played in LA. I happened to interview the British band before the show and watched the xx's Oliver Sim break the heel off his shoe in his rush not to miss Haim's set. A few weeks later, I sat with Mumford and Sons backstage at a gig where they watched Haim's single, Don't Save Me, on YouTube. It was agreed in the room that this was pretty much the perfect pop song”.
In 2013, Este Haim spoke with Stereogum about the then-upcoming Days Are Gone (the article was published on the day the album came out: 27th September). In 2013, HAIM has been named a band to watch by many sites. They won BBC’s Sound Of 2013. They had played opening slots on tours with Phoenix, Florence and The Machine, Mumford and Sons, and Vampire Weekend.
“STEREOGUM: You generated a lot of buzz last summer with “Forever” and now you’re finally putting out your first album. Do you feel pressure or just excitement?
HAIM: We’re really excited but would be lying if we weren’t a little stressed about it. You only put out your first record once! But we’re really proud of it and we worked really hard on it. Still, it’s like having a baby and putting them on TV and having people criticize it. It’s a risk but one we’re willing to take.
STEREOGUM: Speaking of which, how are your parents dealing with your newfound fame?
HAIM: Here’s the thing: if I was a science teacher at a school my parents would be proud of me. When I went to college my parents were really excited. Throughout our childhood my parents were really passionate about all of us having a back-up plan. They encouraged us to play but the whole time we were in the music room playing they wanted to make sure we had a back-up plan. They were supportive but realistic. They taught us to work hard.
STEREOGUM: So what’s your back-up plan?
HAIM: When I turned 18 I got my real estate license. I wanted to sell real estate on Million Dollar Listing on the Bravo Network. I got my license, but I never got to use my license. I have never used it. But if all else fails, there’s still that.
STEREOGUM: Would you date any of the guys on Million Dollar Listing?
HAIM: Oh my god, no. Probably not. I’m probably a foot taller than all of them. I want to date a guy who is at least five or six inches taller than me and I’m six feet tall. If we’re talking about dating from reality shows I would probably go for the guys on Basketball Wives.
STEREOGUM: But they’re all taken, that’s why they’re on Basketball Wives!
HAIM: We’re living in a hypothetical world.
STEREOGUM: Speaking of relationships, how many bad breakups went into making the album?
HAIM: Not that many. The album is partly personal, but when we were writing songs we used our experiences and our friends’ experience and the things we read about in books.
STEREOGUM: Which books influenced your album?
HAIM: All three of us are big into Bukowski and Fante, who was one of Bukowski’s biggest influences. He wrote about LA’s Angel’s Flight in Ask The Dust. We could pick something off the wall and write about it. I mean, we’ve had our share of relationships, some good, some bad, you have to take something away and some of those relationships are in our songs, but there’s no Taylor Swift shenanigans going on. There’s no … what’s the Jewish equivalent? Oh yeah there’s no Dear Shlomo on the album.
STEREOGUM: That’s almost disappointing. Is Taylor Swift on your iPod?
HAIM: She is! I really liked “Our Song.”
STEREOGUM: What else is on your iPod now?
HAIM: The iPod that I use is the one I got for my high school graduation it’s this clunky white 60 gig. It’s so old, but it still works. It hasn’t made it to the Apple graveyard yet. You have one of those, right?
STEREOGUM: Yep. Under my bed.
HAIM: I have the orange Macbook and a bunch of other stuff in there. But on my iPod I tend to have new songs that I get sick of and then delete after I listen over and over again. Right now I’m really into Bat For Lashes. Got to see her a lot on the festival circuit and we dorked out and told her about what big fans we are and she said that she liked “Forever” and we were dying inside that she even knew one of our songs. We listen to Kendrick Lamar a lot and Yeezus gets us pumped for our shows. J. Cole. Now, he’s tall. He’s such a babe. He’s literally 6’6″. I just felt so comfortable in his arms. I let the hug go on a few seconds too long but what can you do? We had a whole moment about getting vegan barbecue in Austin and going on a bicycle caravan ride around the city, but it never came to fruition. The iPod also has a healthy dose of Motown, Temptations, Boys II Men, Smokey Robinson, Jackson Five, Spinners.
STEREOGUM: What was it like recording your first record?
HAIM: Our mission statement when we set out to make this record was … well, we had a wish list of producers, two of whom were Ariel [Rechtshaid] and James [Ford]. We loved Ariel’s work with Cass McCombs and Charli XCX and in the first five minutes we found out we had the same childhood. We were all Valley kids, did all the same shit, went to all the same schools, had a million friends in common. Plus we all take production really seriously. We had a five-hour hang out when it was supposed to be a thirty-minute introduction. We ended up getting beers and vegan sausage and hanging out for hours. We knew right away that we wanted to work with him. We were all on the same page and we all wanted to experiment. He had really great ideas and we were really excited to work with him.
And James, well, he hadn’t done a lot of production in the year before, so we were the first band he worked with after hiatus. That week we wrote and demo’d two songs “Don’t Save Me” and “Let Me Go.” We cut them in a week and they were done — the melodies and the drum track. We did all that in the studio. Then we got to show James around LA. We took him to a bunch of bars, ate our weight at Tender Greens, got to go to Amoeba and do record shopping. It was nice to take a breather out of the studio and have some retail therapy. We just had a lot of fun, which was very different for me. I was used to the studio being stressful, but this was just the opposite”.
The final interview I want to bring in i from TIME. Catching up with HAIM in May 20`14, the trio reflected on a busy and successful year. It was Alana Haim that was answering the question. I can only imagine what it was like releasing a debut album and getting this huge amount of attention and demand. This was a band who would soon tour in massive venues. Quite a rise for a trio who, at one point, were pretty much begging people to come and see them play:
“TIME: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened on tour so far?
Alana Haim: Nothing really crazy happens on tours! The craziest part is that we’re in the U.S. Is that weird? We haven’t been in the U.S. for like two years because we’ve been in Europe. When we were getting ready to do this tour, I was like, “I hope people still remember who we are!” But we’re pretty subdued on tour. We’re not a big crazy band.
The problem is our immune systems actually hate us. We can’t do anything on tour because we’re afraid we’re going to get sick. It’s all from our parents. Growing up, getting sick was like the world was ending. We’re the chillest rock stars of all time. All we do after a show is chill in our bus and watch movies.
Songs like “My Song 5” and “Days Are Gone” aren’t your usual guitar-based pop. Were they hard songs to adapt live?
All of the tracks on our records are really dense and have these crazy sounds. They’re really full of different things, and that was the hardest thing, to pick and choose what we could play. Believe me, if I had two extra hands, life would be a million times easier for me.
But you already do so much — keyboards, guitars, drums, singing.
They call me Merlin. That’s my nickname. My wizard station has a million things on it. But that’s the fun part — I’m never bored on stage.
During one song, you told the audience to put down their phones and live in the moment. Are concert-goers today too busy Instagramming and Snapchatting?
I don’t think it’s a problem. There was a girl in the front row, and she yawned and was texting. I was like, why are you even here? You seem so unenthused! Obviously you got here early to be in the front row. When I go to shows, the last thing I want to do is text someone, unless I’m texting someone “My face is getting melted right now.” It’s kind of like the ADD age — we can’t sit and listen to music anymore.
Before Days Are Gone came out, a lot of people made Fleetwood Mac comparisons and fixated on 1970s rock influences. Did you know you were going to surprise them with some unexpected sounds?
I don’t think it was our intention to completely surprise people. With “My Song 5” and “Days Are Gone,” we had written them in the studio. We were like, “Oh God, are these songs too different from the other songs?” And finally we realized if we like the song, it’s going on the record, and we don’t give a sh-t. It’s awesome because “My Song 5” is the biggest song live. Everyone loves that song live. Everyone knows that song, everyone sings along, which is cool because in the studio, we were freaking out.
Do you think Days Are Gone is a breakup album?
I feel like, if it was a breakup album, I would listen to it and feel sad, and I don’t really feel like it’s a sad album. Days Are Gone is more of a record that explains the past six years of our lives. Some of the songs we wrote in 2008, some of the songs we wrote a year ago. It’s the story of me, Este and Danielle growing up at different points in our lives. A lot of people have come up to me and said, “This song got me through a rough breakup,” which is so rad, because when I’m going through a sad breakup, I always listen to Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky.” That’s my get-over-a-broken-heart song because it’s such a f-ck-you song. To write a song that other people go through to get through the day? It’s an honor.
I’d guess that mish-mash of experiences accurately captures the messiness of breakups.
The record is all about what we went through and what our friends went through. Some songs that seem like breakups aren’t even really about breakups. But I think the craziest thing for us is that we put out Days Are Gone. We’ve been a band for six years, almost seven, and we’d never put out a debut record. It’s kind of a running joke — our next record is going to come out in 2020! But it’s not. It’s definitely coming soon”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Big Hassle
There are so many positive reviews for Days Are Gone. Whilst some of the positive reviews contain an unnecessary note of caution and criticism – the music not being ‘cool’; it not being to everyone’s taste etc. -, there were those who were more focused on the music and its true value. That said, AllMusic’s opening line mentions how HAIM’s music is not cool – something that they think works in its favour:
“There is nothing cool about Haim's music, and that's why it's so refreshing. While many of their contemporaries engaged in a contest to find the most obscure influences, and '80s revivalists sucked synth-pop and new wave dry, the Haim sisters dug up the decade's biggest, poppiest sounds and fashioned a captivating debut album out of them. Days Are Gone sounds all the more unusual precisely because it's so mainstream; a list of their influences -- Stevie Nicks, Phil Collins, En Vogue, Shania Twain -- looks like a glance at the Top 40 from about 25 years before the album's release. Likewise, these songs revel in that era's sometimes-cheesy flourishes without a trace of irony, and the gated drums, gleaming synths, and muted guitars that dominate Days Are Gone haven't sounded so good since their original heyday. Not that Haim's approach is unstudied; the trio obviously did their homework to revive and embody these sounds so perfectly, and it took them five years of recording and re-recording these songs until they had just the right mix of smoothness and immediacy.
The hard work paid off: Days Are Gone is full of should-be hits like "The Wire," which boasts a big, fist-pumping beat and sassy guitar licks (they can only be called that). Compared to the thin voices of so many 2010s pop stars, singer Danielle Haim's rich alto only adds to the group's throwback feel, but like her sisters, she's remarkably versatile. Over the course of the album, Haim captures and explores the nuances within the styles they're reviving: there's the sweet soft rock of "Honey & I" or "Don't Save Me," the title track's tight synth-pop, and the dark, driving territory of "Let Me Go" and "My Song 5," which, with its slinky melody and hard-hitting beats, makes the most of the trio's much-touted R&B influences. This song, along with much of Days Are Gone, features production by Ariel Rechtshaid, whose work with Usher and Vampire Weekend proves he has the breadth to help Haim unite their ideas into a coherent sound. Still, it's the writing that ultimately prevents Days Are Gone from being just an extremely accurate exercise in nostalgia. The best moments here, such as the bookends "Falling" and "Running If You Call My Name," would be great pop songs regardless of when they sound like they're from. A debut album that could pass for a greatest-hits collection, Days Are Gone will provide musical comfort food for some, and possibly an introduction to irony-free pop for others”.
I will finish with a review from The Line of Best Fit. Even though the review sort of goes off on a detour and tangent to start, they, alongside so many, held a lot of love for an amazing debut album. It is one that I keep listening to. Its impact and brilliance has not faded:
“Embarking on this review, I was surprised to read one day that Haim claim to have struggled to be seen as “more than just a girl band”. Now I’m not going to delve into the politically correct – or incorrect – guidelines of what is or isn’t considered sexist in the music industry and/or if that’s even an issue, because a) I am bound to upset someone, which is not the reason I’ve brought this up or b) considering girl band vs boy band (or perhaps, ultimately, girl vs boy) isn’t going to do the trio any favours, since it would probably highlight uncomfortable differences, ideas and opinions which would in turn bring us back to point a) etc., and quite frankly, walking around in circles is both dizzying and pointless.
There is no denying, however, that there is a stigma that lurks beneath the generally positive, empowering ideas that equate ‘female’ and ‘in a band’ – which is why Haim’s declaration of struggle wasn’t perhaps all that surprising after all. It is a stigma that, all in all, is both fading and unnecessary, but my views on its existence at all are obviously better suited to expression on a blog which in no way would reflect the views or opinions of the BBC and so forth. But, the reason I’m pointing all this out is because really, this ‘girl band’ can relax about the struggle. Days Are Gone is not ‘just another record by just another girl band’ but a record, by a band, who are all women. And that’s how it – and all albums, regardless of gender and sidestepping stereotype – ought to be considered.
Now that that’s all out of the way, let’s talk about the record. Days Are Gone opens with ‘Falling’, a pulsating, resonant reminder that you can’t stand up without falling down. Echoes bounce off each other and drums hammer their way irregularly beneath delayed guitar riffs to build towards a united exclamation – “never look back and never give up”.
Without the old there would be no new, however, as shown by follow-up track ‘Forever’ which is still a strong reminder of why our ears excitedly stood to attention last March. ‘The Wire’ is a passionately catchy live-favourite with a chorus and cyclic stick-in-your-head rhythm that deserves crowd clap-and-sing-alongs.
The first of four brand new songs on the record, ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’ is a feverish, sultry clattering of cymbals that swells into an earnest stream of consciousness, nostalgia, possibilities, and regret. ‘Honey & I’, with its muffled chords and tender narratives – “I know there’s nothing good in goodbye”; “This song can’t be played alone / It was made to be played with my honey and I” – layers irregular beats atop unpredictable yet precisely timed vocals and harmonies, building towards a riotous refrain that pulls back to a restrained chiming.
Overall, Days Are Gone showcases the band’s individual strengths that have been pulled together to create a collective group with intensity and depth of potential. Featuring old and new, the expected (‘Don’t Save Me’) and the unexpected (‘My Song 5’), it creates its own spectral glow that it proceeds to deservedly bask in. In fact, by the time the hauntingly darker, semi-synthesized ‘Running If You Call My Name’ closes this 11-track debut, unforgettable melodies will linger to ease the slight disappointment that it doesn’t last as long as I’d like. But we needn’t worry; there’s no denying that for Haim, their days aren’t gone, but just beginning”.
It would be good if there were retrospective reviews for Days Are Gone. I found quite a few concentrated on stuff that was not relevant. Even many positive reviews contained a slight note of caution. Days Are Gone deserves better than that. It introduced us to HAIM. After playing some big gigs in London last week, the group will look ahead to the tenth anniversary of their epic and stunning debut. Since 2013, they have gone on to release further acclaimed albums. They are headlining festivals and are a massive success story. It all started with Days Are Gone. A number one success here (it has gone Platinum in the U.K.), the Californian sisters are cherished and hugely admired by their British fans. HAIM stormed O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire last Thursday (31st) - where they played their debut album in full. Go and listen to the wonderful debut album from…
THE incomparably brilliant HAIM.