Haim Live at The AudioThere is no doubt at all that these L.A. based girls have earned their stripes working their spice in backdoor entry sticky clubs and lowdown bars from way up in Augusta to way down in Austin. But I doubt that when they worked the rooms back then (with Mama Haim and Papa Haim) they were as raunchy as we found them in Brighton.
“That’s right motherf*** hit the drum - that ‘ll teach *** son of a bitch” screamed Este - because her drum was ‘”f**ing about’”. Yes this is is spunked out rock. Pungent, sweaty and vulgar. It is real.
“F *** it’s hot up here - can I just get naked now? I’ll show you ... there will be boobs and vulvas flying everywhere ...”
Tribal beats play a significant role in their show in general and in the sound of Haim. And this is a spectacle. The sisters are hypnotic. They are aligned along a long stage at ‘The Audio’ Brighton (Great Escape 2012) and this is because they need the space to flex- to play about with their drums and their guitars. Yet even with all this space between them, they sound ‘as one’ - unified. Family. The echoes of chanting lyrics create absorbing patchworks of sound - often forming aural backdrops for chiming guitar licks that seemed smeared across the sounds, before resonating around the walls. My, this is loud stuff. It is like polished punk.
And always the best part of each catchy Haim song is the jubilant chord arrangement. You feel that you should try to catch each one before it pulls you off of your feet. ‘Better Off’ has a sweetish a cappella start, before the booming drums start to thrum - played by the girls - and supported by the only guy in the group- Dash Hutton (who seems kinda superfluous) but, as Este points out “ He’s just here to give us the horn.” This song seems to have been inspired by the work of Christine McVie circa 1976 (“You Make Loving Fun” era.) A bass-line nags and whirrs like an angry hornet, as the chorus grows more and more prominent, before mushrooming into a cluster-cloud of fantasy chimes.
‘Forever’ has more of the same vibe, a bouncy bass provided by the ever orgasmically faced Este, while Alana blips and cuts away at the keys and Danielle blasts out the main lines.This song is a blend of country jangles and Fleetwood Mac style light-blues guitar. And I swear that this will transport you back to a better place and time (if ever you were there.) It will also propel you forward with its magnificent power chords and turbulent percussion. The real strength of this band is in their vocal energy -played out for you and for everyone on stage. They out perform each other at every given opportunity. It is sibling rivalry gone musically mad. Swapping lead vocals, incidental harmonising and adding accidentally random textures.
If you put all this together and then add their uncommon instrumental prowess with their masterful tune writing, the resultant mix is quite phenomenal. In their final moments, as the sisters drum out in style, I cannot help but think that we have not heard or seen the best of them yet!
© Neil_Mach May 2012
Links: http://www.facebook.com/haimtheband
http://www.audiobrighton.com/
http://escapegreat.com/
