The summer between eighth grade and my freshman year of high school, I only listened to two albums: Rumours (1977) by Fleetwood Mac and Days are Gone (2013) by HAIM. Armed with my emerald green iPod Nano and a pair of wired earbuds, I developed a serious case of main character syndrome. The records have endured as some of my favorites. These two albums don’t seem on the surface all that similar, but Stevie Nicks and HAIM are close friends, the latter very much inspired by the former.
Their later work reflects the influence of Fleetwood Mac much more closely, as the group comes into what feels like their final, truest form. They’re making music now that ranges from Sheryl Crow (“I’ve Been Down”) to Joni Mitchell (“Man from the Magazine”) to Velvet Underground (“Summer Girl”), with some of the more 808s and bass-heavy songs sprinkled throughout. I’ve loved every iteration of HAIM, I think because while the style changes, the bones remain: Este’s funky bass lines, Danielle’s punchy writing, Alana’s smooth harmonies.
I often wonder if the members of HAIM being sisters gives their music the special sauce that makes it so irresistible, like how twins who are tennis doubles are just a little bit psychic. They started as children in a cover band with their parents. Later, Danielle worked as a touring guitarist for Jenny Lewis and Este got an ethnomusicology degree (in two years instead of five) in Brazilian and Bulgarian music from UCLA. By the time Alana graduated high school, they had decided to pursue writing and performing as a trio. They gained popularity in the UK first after playing as openers for a few bands in the States, after which they signed with a UK label.
Their first album, Days Are Gone, was met with widespread acclaim. The sound of the record is rooted in gated reverb and synthesizers. It was largely produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, who worked on the Carly Rae Jepsen album EMOTION (2015) and Modern Vampires of the City (2013) by Vampire Weekend. He and Danielle Haim started dating and have been together ever since.
I’ll really get into Something to Tell You (2017) and Women in Music Pt. III (2021) in later issues, because it’s impossible to go through their whole discography in one fell swoop. At their Santa Barbara Bowl comeback show, they played songs from each of their records. I’m always pleasantly surprised when artists pull from their earlier work at shows; I’m grateful that they haven’t tired of the material that their fans love so much. A few songs into the set, they asked if anyone had been a fan since the Days Are Gone era. What felt like the whole crowd cheered wildly as they started “My Song 5.” It was a perfect concert.
The Avalanches made Since I Left You (2000) at a time when samples were just coming into vogue. The practice was mostly employed in hip-hop music until this album burst into the indie scene. The album is composed of over nine hundred individual samples, woven into masterful contextualizations. It’s wonderfully original and whimsical—the band started it for fun and lost track of the thousands of samples they used (their estimate is thirty five hundred). After the groundbreaking DJ Shadow album Endtroducing (1996), sampling had incredible potential to be an asset to production. The Avalanches made it into its own genre.
It’s finally getting the anniversary re-release fans have been waiting for. This album has shaped the indie music landscape for the sixteen years it took to get a sophomore record and the twenty years it’s been out. Everyone sampling today—and that’s most people—have some debt to this record.
I’ll finally mention St. Vincent, who I saw play the Greek last night. It was one of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen, from choreography to set design to guitar solos. She wailed all the favorites, including “New York,” staggered around theatrically, threw one of her guitars across the stage, and never seemed to run out of breath. I’ll dedicate a whole issue to St. Vincent at some point soon, but for now all I’ll say is this: Daddy is home indeed.