Haim switch dial from 1970s to '90s (and back) for their most eclectic collection yet
Haim are leading lights of LA culture now, almost as celebrated for their fashion sense as they are for their music. Their fourth album, I Quit, arrives freighted with considerable expectation, but can it live up to the highs of earlier work?
Down to Be Wrong is vintage Haim. A sultry, evocative song that will remind many of Sheryl Crow
It certainly sounds subtly different to their previous albums. While '70s influences continue to abound, the 1990s plays a significant part too. That's apparent on opening track, Gone, which liberally uses George Michael's Freedom 90. And it's there again, on closer, Now It's Time, which takes the abrasive beats of U2's Numb and does something intriguing with it.
If I Quit doesn't have quite the proportion of strong songs as debut album Days Are Gone, or indeed a single to match that of the peerless The Wire, it's comfortably their most eclectic collection. While some may lament the lack of focus, others will delight in the way the songs hopscotch from genre to genre with abandon.
There's plenty of classic West Coast pop, fey balladry, excursions into indie rock, dalliances in funk and some soulful leanings, too. And it's a reminder of what an affecting vocalist Danielle is. She sounds effortless and yet you hang on to her every word.
Down to Be Wrong is vintage Haim. A sultry, evocative song, its chorus soars. Not for the first time, it's a Haim song that will remind many of Sheryl Crow. One could imagine it taking pride of place on her 1993 gazillion-seller Tuesday Night Music Club.
It is one of several songs that explore relationship break-ups. Danielle may well be writing about personal experience. Her nine-year relationship with Ariel Rechtshaid ended in 2022: he produced each of the previous Haim albums, but beyond a writing credit on standout song, the playful, seductive Relationships, he's nowhere to be seen here. Instead, Vampire Weekend founder Rostam Batmanglij, who had a part in the production of their two most recent albums, steps up to the plate here. The siblings are in good hands with Rostam — as he is now mononymously known — at the tiller.
Guest vocalists are eschewed, and it would have been intriguing if Bon Iver's Justin Vernon had lent his voice to the giddy, commercially smart Everybody is Trying to Figure Me Out. After all, he is credited as one of the song's writers and composers.
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