HAIM are doing what they want and say ‘I quit’ on their new album
The sisters guide us through a messy breakup while leaping between 70s classic rock, R&B and hip hop to produce a confident and honest album of breakup songs.
Photo: Terrence O’Connor
It has been a five-year hiatus, or HAIM-atus if you will, since the trio of sisters — Este, Danielle and Alana — provided us with their experimental, vulnerable and critically acclaimed third album Women in Music Pt. III. A lot has happened since their last album, as I quit marks the band’s first album without longtime producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Danielle Haim’s ex-partner.
Despite a noticeable change in the sonic landscape, HAIM showcase an exploration of several genres with a more restrained, lo-fi sound with a warranted self-assurance that can be heard in each song. Whilst there is still heartbreak maintained throughout the breakup songs, displaying the rocky end of a relationship towards separation, I quit moves on from the melancholy found in Women in Music Pt. III. Instead, it replaces this sadness with a sense of empowerment and the feeling of a confident strut onto better things, with no punches pulled and a welcome addition to their exquisite catalogue.
Gone opens the album in a minimalistic manner with stripped back instrumentation and a simple vocal melody that ascends into a sense of euphoria with a driving bluesy beat, singing guitar solo and sampling of George Michael’s Freedom! ’90. Even though the Freedom! ’90 sample may be a bit too on the nose for some, it belongs in the context of the song alongside lyrics such as “Now I’m gone, now I’m free / Born to run, nothing I need” and sets the tone for the rest of the album.
For fans of Beach House, the dream pop-like All over me layers shimmering guitar textures and a wash of synths over a looping rhythm that feels almost narcotic in its repetition. It’s more about mood than melody as Danielle sounds submerged, her voice processed and distant, like she’s singing from underwater. The lyrics evoke the inescapability of a past relationship, not just emotionally but physically: “You said it’s over, but you’re still all over me / Like perfume in the sheets”.
Standout tracks like the R&B-tinted Relationships and rock-orientated Down to be wrong offer raw perspectives on the relief, regret, and rage of emotional release. Danielle’s vocals are especially compelling when she confronts heartbreak head-on. Relationships is a standout manifesto of emotional letting go, with clever genre-shifts and a vivid chorus, whereas Down to be wrong manages to balance vulnerability and resolve, while building from quiet reflection to a fierce declaration.
Take me back is one of the more upbeat-sounding tracks on the album, being sonically bright, emotionally conflicted. Built on punchy drums, slick synth chords and a warm bassline, Take me back walks the line between hopeful and delusional. The arrangement on Love you right is sparse but effective with clean guitar licks, minimal drums, and layered background harmonies that swell in the chorus. There’s a rawness to Este’s delivery that cuts through the polish and shows HAIM’s range beyond genre-hopping.
The farm is a warm, quietly devastating track that strips things back to the bare essentials with fingerpicked acoustic guitar, close mic vocals and sparse harmony. Danielle sings about emotional retreat and healing in the wake of heartbreak, using the literal and metaphorical image of a family farm to represent sanctuary and stillness in lines such as “I went back to the farm / No cell, no harm / Just the air and a morning alarm.”
The next tracks that follow shows how easy HAIM manage to leap between genres and make influences their own with Everybody’s trying to figure me out and Try to feel my pain. The funky Everybody’s trying to figure me out has a danceable beat that could be the lovechild of Daft Punk and Talking Heads. On the other end, Try to feel my pain has reminisces of 90s alt-rock and grunge with an intense vocal performance from Danielle, with it being smoky, pained but never melodramatic.
There are times across the album where lyrically some songs are not as nuanced and as fleshed out as they could be, such as Spinning, Lucky Stars and Million Years, especially when compared to other songs on the album. However, these songs make up for it sonically with the disco-infused, groovy and Alana Haim-led Spinning, the shoegaze tinged Lucky Stars with a wall of dreamy guitar feedback and the intimate two-step of Million Years.
Este Haim takes the main spotlight with her vocals, alongside layers of synths, sounding as good as ever on the country-pop ballad Cry, which, whilst not as subtle as other tracks on the album, still strikes the right emotional chords with listeners.
Blood on the street feels like a favourite in the making that sees all sisters take vocal duties with no beating around the bush, in regards to saying a longed-for goodbye to an undesirable ex-partner. The trio pack a punch with lines such as “I swear you wouldn’t care / If I was covered in blood lying dead on the street” and Danielle singing “And now the sun’s up, I’m out and that’s that” to devastating effect.
Closing the album is the empowering Now it’s time that celebrates moving on from a broken relationship. The track utilises a dramatic blend of U2-style industrial groove and soaring instrumentation, bringing the album to an ecstatic end.
I quit confidently stakes their claim in pop-rock, blending nostalgic influences with modern flair. As a result, it is an emotionally resonant breakup album infused with freedom and self-reclamation, delivering in both live appeal and lyrical honesty. Fans of HAIM’s evolution and anyone seeking summer breakup anthems with substance will find I quit a satisfying listen, even if at times it is not seamless.
I quit is out now via Columbia Records.