Days Are Gone

Gallons of virtual ink had already been spilled on three-piece sister-act HAIM before I’d heard a single note of their debut record, Days Are Gone. Some of it challenged their “indieness,” their trite lyrics, or how they sound too much like Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins and Billy Ocean and Nu Shooz. Arguments can be (and, obviously, have been) made for all of that. But what caught my attention is not how Days Are Gone sounds like a 1985 episode of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 radio show, but how quickly the sisters HAIM have gotten everyone—I mean everyone—talking, appealing to casual FM-radio listeners and stodgy music critics. That kind of shared experience speaks volumes in this zany, fragmented world we live in. Are HAIM worthy of all this attention? Yes, they are. “Falling” and “The Wire”—and the rest of the songs on the hit-single-loaded first half—sound like they were crafted out of pure platinum. Above all else, these gregarious young women have the chops and vox to back it up. So what if Days Are Gone is nothing new under the sun? Just follow HAIM’s lead—have fun, don’t over-think it, and enjoy the ride.