HAIM has declared this season to be “single-girl summer” and offered us the soundtrack. Heartsick never sounded so good.
“I Quit,” the fourth full-length album from the trio, is a breakup collection that never gets too weepy. You can dance to a lot of it. Even the song “Cry,” which name-checks the seven stages of grief, is an upbeat bop.
Six years after the trio released their jazzy, Lou Reed-y single “Summer Girl,” the mood has somewhat soured this summer. Across 15 tracks, the songs are about fresh splits, old wounds and newfound independence.
“Now I’m gone/Quick as a gunshot/Born to run/Can’t be held up,” go the lyrics for the opening track “Gone,” which samples from George Michael’s anthem of liberty “Freedom! ’90.”
Este Haim, left, and Danielle Haim at the Cannes film festival in May. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana Haim found themselves all single for the first time in a long time while making the album, looking back with equal parts venom and guilt. “You know I’m trying to change/’Cause I know I’m not innocent,” goes “Love You Right.”
“The Farm” has a rootsy twang, “Down to be Wrong” has a Sheryl Crow vibe and “Take Me Back” has a Go-Go’s feel. “Love You Right” is pure Fleetwood Mac harmonies, even making reference to a chain. “Spinning” is a slice of house bliss with overlapping harmonies, easily the most danceable Haim song since “I Want You Back.” The wistful, warm “Million Years” leans into electronica.
The bluesy “Blood on the Street” has more vitriol (“I swear you wouldn’t care/If I was covered in blood lying dead on the street”) but ends with freedom: “Now the sun’s up, I’m out, and that’s that.” And “Relationships” is a standout on a standout album, with Danielle Haim’s falsetto exploring the agony of romantic ties and her sister’s bass thumping.
But the best song has to be “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out,” in which each Haim shines as tempos change and the song morphs from folk to indie rock to blissed-out ‘70s, with the final mantra: “You think you’re gonna die/But you’re not gonna die.”
The album is co-produced by Danielle Haim and HAIM’s frequent collaborator Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. The trio’s usual producer, Ariel Rechtshaid, split with Danielle Haim, which may account for the new energy.
The album closer, “Now It’s Time,” interpolates U2’s industrial-pop song “Numb,” adds cool drum rhythms and an Alanis Morissette-like strut, ending with an exhilarating jam session. “It’s time/To let go,” says the lyrics. Not to this album.
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