In the 2019 video for “Summer Girl,” Haim walk around their native Los Angeles, shedding layers of clothing. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, it starts with the sister trio in puffer jackets and peacoats, and concludes with Danielle, Alana, and Este in bathing-suit tops, strolling down Ventura Boulevard. The sun is setting, another dreamy California day coming to a close.
This video is essentially how it feels listening to Haim, a band that specializes in sleek, soft pop-rock they regularly infuse with Seventies rock and R&B. While their music shines during every season, these Valley sisters have always been the antidote to sweltering summer days, paired best with an iced beverage and a lawn chair, like the ones they pose in on the cover of their now-classic 2013 debut, Days Are Gone. And on their new album, I Quit, out (predictably) on June 20, they don’t just perfect that summer vibe. They dial up the heat to a thousand — and bask in it.
They ignite their new era with “Relationships,” which has been marinating in the Haimiverse since 2017, but would have felt out of place on previous records. It’s a meditation on the hellish reality of relationships — why we participate in them, how a fight often “turns into 17 days,” and when it’s time to call it quits. “I think I’m in love, but I can’t stand/Fucking relationships,” Danielle sings over glossy grooves, with Este delivering a killer bass line.
Upon its release, Haim declared “single-girl summer” on social media, then expanded on that mantra while onstage at a recent show in L.A. “Y’all should know that [when] we made this album, for the first time in Haim history, all three of us were single,” Alana said. “So you know there’s gonna be some fucking shit on it. We got it all out for y’all.”
They aren’t lying. I Quit contains a whopping 15 tracks, and while that’s only two more than their last album — the excellent Women in Music Pt. III from 2020 — I Quit is far more cohesive, a cathartic concept record on breakups and the hard-won independence you earn from them. “Can I have your attention please?” Danielle commands on the opening track, “Gone.” And as she fiercely ticks off her new goals (“I’ll do whatever I want/I’ll see who I wanna see/I’ll fuck off whenever I want/I’ll be whatever I need”) to a sample from George Michael’s “Freedom ’90,” Haim have never had our attention more.
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They double down on this freedom in the next track, “All Over Me,” a sexy stunner about keeping it strictly friends with benefits. They don’t care who else this guy is seeing, nor are they ever going to be exclusive. This track and the album as a whole are packed with tight-knit lyrics built to scream in an arena. “You know I’ve always had a wild heart,” Danielle sings. “And that won’t ever change.”
Haim have always been classic-rock scholars, and you can hear tinges of great bands that came before them across these songs. “The Farm” is an indisputable highlight that sees the trio go full Americana, a showcase of Danielle’s soulful vocals that are reminiscent of Levon Helm and the Band. All three sisters take turns singing on the bluesy cut “Blood on the Street,” which culminates in a raging guitar solo from Danielle.
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On “Take Me Back,” an anthem of teen nostalgia, Danielle sings, “In and out of love since I was 19.” It’s a line reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow,” where she casually observes, “Since I was 17/I’ve had no one over me.”
I Quit marks the band’s first album without co-producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Danielle’s former partner of several years. Instead, Danielle co-produced it with Rostam Batmanglij, with whom Haim have frequently collaborated. There are new faces on the record, too, like Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who co-wrote the gritty single “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out.” But what Haim prove here is that they never really needed anyone else besides themselves. Forget relationships. These summer girls have one another.
