Haim - The Wire

Haim seem to confuse quite a few people. It’s easy to understand why. Their live shows, which include Este’s gymnastic bass face (proving that it’s not only drummers that do sex faces when playing music), flirting with the audience and jam session moments certainly have more kick and punch than their studio work, but that’s fine with us; after all who wants to go and see a band live and it’s just like listening to the record? (OK in terms of just the sound we’ll admit there are exceptions, but those exceptions always add something else to the experience to make it worthwhile. Example = Kraftwerk.)

With new song The Wire (unfortunately not a tribute to Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers) our approach to listening is different. By now most Haim fans have had an opportunity to see the three sisters play live at either a festival or their own show or if not via the multitude of You Tube clips out there. So with this track we’re comparing the live version that most of us know with the studio version rather than vice versa.

The recorded form is a taught little beast, but pretty much how we would imagine it. The vocals and harmonies are locked in perfectly, the music slick, but still holding onto the essence of the live version. It’s probably not as instantly pop as Forever although it does have the same break down at about two and a half minutes in where the vocals chant ‘always keep your heart locked tight’ and the guitars strut in sexily like they’re auditioning for a part in the introduction to Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor.

The most interesting thing with Haim now (from our own UK perspective) will  be how this song does on national radio and in the UK charts. Having now been through the hype mill and having done all the groundwork, this is where we get to find out if all translates into sales. 

Haim - The Wire