STACK #153 Jul 2017

thing HAIM Get the STACK Magazine app for more digital content MUSIC FEATURE

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Words Jonathan Alley

On the eve of their Splendour in the Grass shows, Haim return with new album Something toTell You . This time, they're owning it.

thus for-going endless overdubbing as individual members play their parts, while the others drink smoothies and browse their Instagam feeds, waiting their turn. With Something to Tell You, Haim were one in, all in . “We decided to record as a band" says Danielle Haim "keeping it a little more organic. That was a kind of mission statement.” And while there’s always a certain top-end sheen with Haim, they wanted to strike a balance that was sweet and soulful. This whole approach was captured beautifully in the clip for Right Now, helmed by noted Hollywood director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights,

enigmatic Gentleman of the Drums, Dash Hutton) are now serving up their new album Something to Tell You for your listening pleasure, and they’re landing in the middle of Splendour in the Grass to boot. In today’s music landscape, four years is a small eternity. A lot can happen: icons can die, Presidents can be elected, wars begin and end, — the world can feel real different, real fast and accordingly, music changes too. But Haim remain resolutely themselves: it’s all about the song, the emotion, and the delivery, played and sung to perfection. That said, when Haim took the plunge and entered the studio, they set out deliberately to record ‘as a band’,

T hey’re a family band.’ No, They’re a ‘girl band’. Or, ‘they sound like Fleetwood Mac’. All of these lazy comparisons are regularly aimed at Los Angeles natives Haim (pronounced ‘Heim’ which comes from the word for ‘life’ in Hebrew.) Yes, admittedly there are three siblings in the band. The Gallaghers, they are not. Hell, they’re not even The Osmonds. And, yes ok, back in the mists of time, before they could drink in pubs or swear in front of their parents without getting grounded, they were in a band with elder Mater and Pater called ‘Rockenhaim’. And, leave The Jackson/Partridge family comparisons at the door, thanks. Danielle, Este and Alana Haim (joined by the often invisible and highly

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JULY 2017

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