Haim has ‘Something ’ well worth the wait
Trio offers Millennial nostalgia at its best
The best music comes to those who wait. That’s a lesson pop fans learned just a few weeks ago with Lorde’s evocative mini-masterpiece
Melodrama, her first album in four years, and now again with Haim’s sun-soaked sophomore effort Something to Tell You ( out of four), out Friday. The Los Angeles sister trio — of singer/ guitarist Danielle, guitarist/keyboardist Alana and bassist Este Haim — took a well-deserved breather after striking gold with their 2013 debut album Days Are
Gone, which drew breathless ( but not unwarranted) comparisons to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and helped them snag a new-artist Grammy nomination.
To the masses, the band is perhaps best known for its appearances on Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour and Instagram page, where the pop star broke her social media silence to promote
Something’s first single, Want You
Back. The album opener immediately announces Haim’s bigger, yet more polished sound, with high-pitched harmonies and handclaps that offset the song ’s regretful lyrics. It’s quite easily their most radio-friendly output to date, thanks in part to an assist from star producer Ariel Rechtshaid ( behind recent stand- outs from Beyoncé, Adele and Carly Rae Jepsen).
But unlike so many up-andcomers’ second albums, Some
thing doesn’t read like a shameless ploy for top-40 airplay. Instead, it feels like the organic product of a group who has only grown more confident in its musical abilities, shrugging off the “’70s throwback” and “novelty act” labels that have followed them since their debut, and boldly trying out new flavors. Little of
Your Love is a frothy ’50s doowop confection, while the smooth, bongo-tinged ballad You
Never Knew would feel equally at home on any Phil Collins or Tina Turner album. The most intoxicating left turn is Walking Away, which finds Haim diving headfirst into their noted Aaliyah and TLC influences for a purring R&B kiss-off, cheekily rebuking an unfaithful lover over a rubbery synth line.
Something’s hooks aren’t quite as punchy as those on Days, but emotive lyrical gems are sprinkled throughout its airtight 11 tracks, which explore feelings of heartbreak and empowerment. “I was your lover / I was a friend / Now I’m only someone you call when it’s late enough to forget,” Danielle snarls on the stomping Kept Me Crying.
Her vocals shine on soulful album closer Night So Long, just after Este and Alana flex their instrumental muscle on piercing slow burn Right Now. With Some
thing to Tell You, the sisters Haim have deftly cracked the formula for Millennial nostalgia, recalibrating the music they grew up with in modern, but always reverential, fashion. Download: Want You Back, Kept Me Crying, Walking Away