How strange that the freshest sounding record of 2013 should be the work of three retro-attired Los Angeles sisters who wear their Fleetwood Mac and 90s r’n’b influences like prom-queen tiaras. Hyped to the eyeballs since late last year, the suspicion was that Haim would inevitably represent a triumph of perkiness over substance. On paper their Lindsey Buckingham-trapped-in-an-elevator-with-TLC shtick intrigued – but it couldn’t hang together in reality, surely?
That their album was twice pushed back – allegedly owing to a determination to be hands-on that verged on control freakery – felt ominous, as did the sense that they were pre-ordained for fame before anyone had actually been given a chance to decide whether they enjoyed their music or not. Like several previous winners of the BBC Sound Of Poll, you wondered if Haim were destined to be a six-month novelty – tired and irrelevant before they’d even put an LP out.
Well, huzzah, nothing could be further from the truth. Even if you caught siblings Este, Danielle and Alana supporting Florence and the Machine at Christmas or were lucky enough to blag your way into their beyond-sold-out Whelan’s show in May, Days Of Gone will, in the very best sense, smack you upside the head. It’s a breeze, a blast, a sunshine pop tour de force that feels endearingly off-the-cuff whilst having Deep Things to say about Gen Y love and loss. In short, it’s great.
“I wish there was a camera in the studio the day our producer put sub-bass on one of our songs,“ youngest sister Alana told me this summer. “It was definitely one of those ‘aha’ moments. It makes our music sound warmer, not as retro. We are obviously influenced by the music of the past – LA radio, the oldies stuff our parents listened to. Once we heard the sub-bass we were like ‘yessss!! – this makes us cool”
She was absolutely right. Days Are Gone testifies to just how far a good idea can take you if smartly applied. The biggest clue as to where they were headed was offered not by their bluesy live shows but by last February’s ‘Falling’ single, which the sisters have chosen as the album opener. Starting with a nagging guitar and a rumble of sub-bass, Alana delivers the verse in a sort of woozed-out rap parody, the chorus weaving in and out of earshot, careful not to outstay its welcome.
Less is more might be one of the older tricks in pop. Still, despite the occasional kitchen sink production moment, Haim are assured minimalists. The sun-kissed funk hook on ‘Forever’ sounds like something you might have heard from a boombox in a passing car circa 1985: delivered with stream-of-consciousness breathlessness it zooms past, giddy on its own velocity; the break-up ballad ‘Don’t Save Me’ delivers a devastating one-two of accusatory lyrics and candy-cane melodies. Like the rest of Days Are Gone it’s sad, sweet – and utterly gorgeous. I think I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again: this is a great record.

Key Track: 'Days Are Gone'