Haim - New Waves

If you’re a fan of new music the chances are you’ve probably already come across Haim (pronounced as in time not rain), the Los Angeles four-piece consisting of Danielle, Alana, Este and (the non-pictured drummer) only man in the band Dash. So we apologise if we appear to be ‘late’ or ‘not on the case’ in only featuring Haim in an introductory new wave feature now, but the fact that the group have at the time of writing just over 2,500 followers on Twitter and 4,862 likes on Facebook suggests that there’s still a huge volume of people who have yet to hear their music, so even if you know all about them, a lot of people don’t.

Back in March Haim created quite some buzz in Austin, Texas at SXSW with the NME naming them as one of the 10 hottest new bands on the planet. Now of course just because a band is creating a stir in the music and / or social media doesn't necessarily mean they're any good. 'Hottest band' can sometimes equal most well networked or sleeping with the editor and nothing more. Fast forward to this month and at Great Escape festival Haim had become quite literally the hottest band on the planet – or at least in Brighton. In the Psychosocial Basement on Friday night the temperatures reached get naked sauna like heights, with even one of the band stripping down to her underwear.

It was at this sweat inducing set that Haim really showed what they’re about. You may have read elsewhere that they’re like the r ‘n’ b version of The Staves. That description doesn’t really get close except for their sisterhood and long hair. What we have here are almost two distinctly different bands in one. The studio versions of the songs on Haim’s debut Forever EP may be full of harmonious r’n’b smoothness but live it’s tougher, louder, rawer and full of classic rock references (Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The White Stripes and Patti Smith) than the glossy productions streaming below. It’s all the more compelling for it - they're like an r'n'b band for people who don't like r'n'b. Take a look at the crowd sourced video of a recent London pub gig at The Shacklewell Arms below and by the end we think you'll agree that Haim are really quite thrilling. Quite how the band are going to pull these two strands of forceful-rough and groovily-polished forward to one coherent form remains to be seen, although perhaps they shouldn’t. Maybe their Jeckyll and Hyde musical forms can gloriously co-exist happily together. One thing is for sure though, be it the temperature of their gigs or the level of buzz about the group; Haim really are one of the hottest new bands in the world right now.

You can currently download the Forever EP for free from the bands website (here) in exchange for your email address. Stop whatever you're doing (reading this) click the link and get yourself 3 cuts of musical perfection. You won't regret it.

Haim - Forever



Haim - Better Off



Haim - Let Me Go (Live Crowd Sourced Video)