Sisters in tune with each other

The Haim siblings are in no hurry to deliver their first album despite the hype, says Ed Power.

DANIELLE Haim is calm for someone at the centre of a music industry storm of hype. “There is a lot of expectation about our record. We’ve learned that we are not the sort of band that can rush anything,” says the 24-year-old singer and guitarist. “We have reached a point where we decided we would take as long as was needed to finish the album. The worst thing you can do is charge into it.”

Danielle and her sisters, Este and Alana, are chatty and laid back and just off a flight from New York. They record and perform as Haim, and have received overwhelming media attention. They are as normal as is possible.

“We recorded four early EPs and hated all of them,” says Danielle, the middle sister. She most closely resembles a rock star (she pouts constantly, and is effortlessly chic in leather jacket and boots). “Then, we made our Forever EP and spent three months working on three songs. And it got us noticed. I guess there’s a lesson in there.”

In January, Haim triumphed in the prestigious BBC ‘Sound Of’ award, a tip-sheet of up-and-coming talent. Previous recipients include Jessie J and Adele.

The big time beckons.

“We came over just before Christmas and did Jools Holland and there seemed to be a lot of interest,” says Este, the eldest of the three, at 28. “From what we’ve heard, the BBC award is kind of a big deal. It’s been a very busy few months for us.”

Haim are a sublime marriage of the modern and the vintage. Raised in Los Angeles by musician parents, they are influenced by past bands such as Fleetwood Mac and The Bangles, but their drowsy dance beats and glitchy studio effects are contemporary. They tip a hat to the past, but Haim are 21st century.

“I wish there had been a camera in the studio the day our producer put sub-bass on one of our songs,” says Alana (22), referring to their characteristic ‘womp womb’ groove. “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’.”

The sisters have made music since childhood, but there are no sibling tensions. “I’ve been in bands with boys. However, I’ve never met anyone who played as well as my sisters,” says Este. “And they don’t have egos. That is quite a difference. In other bands, nobody would listen to my ideas. This is a completely collaborative process. It’s funny, because we weren’t especially close growing up. The age gap is pretty big. When I was ten, Alana was four. Now we’ve got each other’s backs.”

For all their success, Haim are at an awkward moment. Fifteen years after the rest of the world, America has fallen in love with lowest-denominator rave music (bafflingly re-christened ‘electronic dance music’). Rock music is passe. With their guitars and verse-chorus tunes, are Haim old-fashioned? “It’s all EDM and drum-and-bass, and what have you just now,” says Este. “Hopefully, the times are changing and people will buy into what we are doing. Don’t get me wrong. I really, really appreciate. that stuff. Ultimately, my response depends on the vibe. It is about context. I can never listen to dance music in the car. It makes me angry. It’s like ‘get the fuck out of my way’. At festivals, I love seeing it. To have all these people dancing so hard, it’s amazing.”

Have they spent too long on their album — will the buzz have died when it comes out? “Deadlines are not something we are used to,” says Danielle. “The album needs to get done. However, we are not the kind of group that can leave a song with a producer and have them finish it.”

In the studio, Haim are collaborative. “Imagine you have an orb in the sky. We each throw things at the song and if they stick, the orb grows and grows. That is what writing is. An orb growing and growing. That is my new-age way of seeing it,” Este says.

From January to May, they were bunkered down in the studio, finishing their album (as yet untitled, it is due in September). They left Los Angeles once, to attend the Coachella festival in the Californian desert, at the invitation of Vampire Weekend.

Vampire Weekend had advice. “They told us to ignore all the fuss and just make the best album you can,” says Este. “And I think they are right. You have to filter everything else out and let the music speak for itself. In the end, that’s all that matters.”

* Haim play Phoenix Park, Dublin, Jul 13, along with The Killers, Frank Ocean and Two Door Cinema Club.