Days Are Gone | Haim

★★★★☆

Indie rock has recently taken a new physical form. Haim recently reached a moderate amount of success with their debut album Days Are Gone, and with all of the buzz around the band, I couldn't resist picking it up when I saw a copy of it resting on the shelf at my local Books a Million store. 

Days Are Gone opens with three of the album's four promoted singles: "Falling," "Forever," and "The Wire." The last of the three songs is arguably the most successful single from album the album thus far, and is my favorite as well. It's very upbeat and would fit in perfectly with most adult contemporary radio stations. The song keeps a steady beat with a guitar and drums until it breaks down into a nearly a cappella section at the 2:30 mark. 

This cutesy, light indie rock sound continues on into "If I Could Change Your Mind" and "Honey & I." Both are pretty good songs (although I like "If I Could Change Your Mind" a bit better than "Honey & I"), but they share about the same sound as "The Wire" and the peppy title track "Days Are Gone." Sure, they're okay songs on their own, but when listened to back-to-back, I find myself wanted a bigger variety of sounds. There's really no unique features to each of the songs. Again, I'd like to emphasize that they're good songs separately, but can't really be listened to all in a row without seeming to blend together into a massive blob of a song.

"My Song 5" brings a darker sound into the album when compared to the lighter, happier productions of "The Wire" and "Honey & I." The song is all about finding out about a significant other cheating in a relationship and the bitter feelings associated with that. "He's in her heart, on the floor thinking than I'll never know / I'll be up going through crazy shit I did for you / In my mind, in my head seeing all the words unsaid / Honey, honey, I am never coming home again," sings Danielle Haim over dark, heavy guitar riffs and beating drums. Because of its sound, it really stands out from a lot of the other songs from the album.

A lot of the songs on this album tend to blend together into this general, light rock sound that is perfect for a grocery-store soundtrack. Many of the songs are pretty ear-catching by themselves, but listening to the whole album at once makes the songs seem less fresh and more like a dirge. However, for a debut album, Days Are Gone is extremely promising and contains some great songs like "The Wire," "My Song 5," and "Let Me Go." A little evolution will go a long was for Haim and I'll still gladly pick up their sophomore attempt when the time comes.