Haim: Days Are Gone

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If you hadn’t already noticed, this trio of guitar-playing California sisters “became everyone’s favorite band in America within roughly two weeks,” said Sasha Frere-Jones in NewYorker.com. Danielle, Alana, and Este Haim began performing years ago, in a cover band put together by their parents, and they’re now winning audiences over with “their old-fashioned skill” and “visibly unhinged love of the gig.” The sisters’ lyrics about breakups and kiss-offs “aren’t necessarily built to withstand close analysis,” said Larry Fitzmaurice in Pitchfork.com. But these amiable 20-somethings can turn a phrase, and their hook-laden tunes blend “soft rock’s incandescent glow, R&B’s sensuality,” and “the spiky effervescence of pop rock.” Backed by drummer Dash Hutton, the sisters achieve a “wound-coil precision” that helps sell every juicy hook. Haim (rhymes with BUY ’em) could have sounded overly slick. Instead, they come off as “affable, play-to-the-rafters rock stars” who offer living proof that not all family musical acts have to be dysfunctional.

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