TuNesday: Something to Tell You

Album Name: Something To Tell You
Band: HAIM
Release Date: July 7, 2017
Genre: Pop Rock

Listen Now

Before you get to reading, why not click on one of these links and start listening? We recommend it. Reading along while the music plays offers a much more immersive experience.

Christy’s Thoughts

Do you ever get distracted by the end game of it all? Maybe you’ve struggled to find a label for a relationship. Or maybe you have trouble sitting down to enjoy some mindless television because it doesn’t achieve anything. You’re asking yourself, why am I doing this? To what end? In this issue of Tunesday, I suggest taking a moment to just stop, listen, and be present for the sake of it all.

It’s always exciting to come across music that’s difficult to define. I’m of the opinion that what makes good music isn’t labelling, it’s about listening. The players need to be listening to one another and making microscopic choices to create the right space for each instrument, each moment, each message. HAIM’s sophomore album “Something to Tell You,” is a clean-cut example of this. 

There is something seamless about HAIM. A connectivity between three decades of influence – We’ve got 70’s folk-rock, 80’s catchy pop melodies, and 90’s R&B harmonies all intermingling into something uniquely modern. Played by three sisters undoubtedly tapped into one another. 

All three members have been playing music from a young age, and the lead singer and guitarist Danielle Haim had success as a touring guitarist with Julian Casablancas before making the choice to play original music with her sisters. This was even after turning down a lucrative offer to play with CeeLo Green’s band. That family must really get along!

Their lifetime of experience shows because they clearly have a lot of really fascinating musical ideas. In “Right Now,” as a drum machine ticks along, the backing vocal lands on the offbeat in a way that is so unexpected, it wiggles in to stick around in your head for later. Then in the coda, the drum tone morphs into something that sounds like a trash can lid, hammering away on that offbeat, restrained and frustrated as if tired of hearing someone demanding “Right Now.”

The record is rich and tasteful in production, but never do they lay it on us too thick. There’s a real sense of them listening to what the moment demands and walking away at the right moment. But the best part of this record is just how damn catchy the tunes are. Check out the title track “Something To Tell You” and let the percussive melody just hook you for days. And I mean days.

With HAIM, you can fine-tune your focus and hear countless interesting details in the music, but you can also just sit back and enjoy the ride like a familiar old family record.

Do you have an album you think more people just NEED to hear? Email your Tunesday Album Recommendation to christy@thewpg.ca and get more ears on the music you love!