Danielle is the kind of rare creature who is sparing with her words, so when she opens her mouth - whether it be to speak, or to sing - those listening tend to memorise every word of wisdom that is bestowed upon them. Youngest sister Alana, makes a joke later tha t "Danielle doesn't talk".
On-stage, Danielle is a lean, mean shredding-machine - who in the past has played guitar on tour for The Strokes' Julian Casablancas, Jenny Lewis and Cee-Lo Green - but off-stage with her affectionate demeanour, it's not hard to imagine her perfecting her culinary skills.
She and her sisters only arrived at the venue mere minutes ago after commuting across the city from their Australian record label offices where they'd officially turned in the final master of their debut album, but she's already graciously playing the role of hostess with much aplomb. "Do you want a drink? Water? Pepsi?" offers Danielle Haim.
I know this, because the sound of One Direction's latest single 'Best Song Ever' being sung in a pitch perfect three-part harmony, is currently travelling towards me through the venue that the band are playing tonight in Sydney, as a Splendour In The Grass 2013 side-show.įinally, a flurry of leather jackets, Chelsea boots and Disney Princess hair, bursts through the backstage door and into the green room - with their parents, Papa Mordechai 'Moti' Haim and Mama Donna Haim, in tow. Clearly somebody, somewhere has something to tell Haim.Haim are in the building. It all sounds terribly big but it sure doesn’t sound terribly clever. There is exhilaration to be found in the interlocking guitars on Kept Me Crying and the strident and urgent string section on Found it in Silence is thrilling but Walking Away is so slight that it would be blown over by a warm Santa Ana breeze on Wiltshire Boulevard.Īll too soon the album blurs into a miasma of twitchy vocal mannerisms, vapid lyrics, over-sweetened harmonies, bass pops, and decorative synths. They’ve boiled down their pure pop allure into bland revivalism
The power surge o f Little of Your Love does manage to locate a bit of the old magic and features the most pleasingly wonky guitar solo this side of the Allman Brothers but Ready For You, another Fleetwood Mac homage, is so wilfully awful it sounds like it was recorded as a bet following too many cosmos on one of Taylor Swift’s yachts. Extraneous, slurred vocoder interjections abound, half-thought out ideas sound like they were abandoned mid-song and when, for example, Nothing’s Wrong isn’t busy nodding to the harmonies from Tell Me Lies by Fleetwood Mac, it recalls the sheer banality of Shania Twain. Manage Preferencesĭays Without End had drama but here the vocal bombast strays into Wilson Phillips perfection once too often, a musical sugar rush without the jolting and bitter aftertaste. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. We need your consent to load this YouTube content We use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. The girl power dynamics of Pat Benatar and more helpings of Stevie Nicks than is medically advisable are still all here and just looking at those MTV-friendly song titles alone will give many an older music fan a pop Proustian rush but somehow Haim have boiled down their pure pop allure into bland revivalism and a wayward attempt at experimentation. Danielle, Este and Alana (and bloke drummer) have upholstered their sheened, neon-lit Miami Vice nightclub of the mind but in the process they seem to have forgotten to furnish it with any memorable songs. It afforded the trio entry level access to a pop glamour world ruled by Taylor Swift and won them fans including Jay-Z.īut if that debut was the musical equivalent of a sullen pout, this long-gestating follow-up seems like a crooked frown.
It sent the world gaga with misty-eyed nostalgia for the golden age of MTV but with a very modern production gleam and shimmer. The Californian sisters (and bloke drummer) perfected a kind of artfully compressed eighties throwback pop-rock on their terrific debut album Days Are Gone four years ago. The follow-up to their celebrated debut lacks zest and memorable songs