It’s exceedingly rare that a band’s third album is anything but fodder to keep the brand going, but Haim have exceeded expectations with Women In Music Pt. III. The record is a beautiful account of what it is to be young and sensitive in the world today.
‘Women In Music Pt. III’ acts as an irreverent middle finger to both convention and expectation, and succeeds through the sheer brilliance of its songwriting and the trio’s palpable love of their craft.
The album is their longest, with 16 tracks compared to the 11 of the two previous records, but it never feels long. WIMPII breezes along effortlessly, carried by HAIM’s commitment to every song and feeling.
Sprawling and intimate, breezy and affecting, Women in Popular Music III is a low-key triumph.
WIMPIII impressively leads us to believe that the best could still be on HAIM’s horizons.
By further broadening their scope of sound, HAIM create a wide window for listeners to find something of resonance within Women in Music Pt. III.
HAIM’s instincts to veer a little more left of the dial on Women in Music Pt. III result in an album that strikes a deft balance between the experimental and the commercial, the moody and the uplifting.
WIMPIII is tuneful and jammy enough to do just fine as this summer’s beach soundtrack, and yet it is also an album that sounds in retrospect like it was tailor-made for the quarantine life.
HAIM have given us the world on a silver platter, and in times like these, it’s the perfect antidote to normality.
Women in Music Pt. III is that rare elongated album that justifies its length, with plenty to dig into through your summer nights and beyond.
Women in Music Pt.III is multidimensional and bold, showing the group high on their original supply of talent as they extend beyond any point they had left to prove.
Women in Music Pt. III is by no means perfect, but its strengths assuredly outweigh the weaknesses. Haim feel completely in the moment here, and are working stronger than ever as a unit.
The band has been quoted as saying that they believe they are equal to any of the male rock bands in the world today, and Women In Music Pt III not only demonstrates this claim to be the truth, but it actually proves something else entirely: no other band in the world, male or female, can match Haim when they on their very best form.
Dark events of the sisters’ recent past inform their revelatory third album on which garage and louche funk combine with west-coast rock.
Women in Music Pt. III is the Haim sister's most solid set of songs yet.
Beneath the smoky fug of a curiously bass-heavy, sometimes semi-psychedelic production, we find all sorts of intriguing experiments.
Their confidence shines through as they pull more personality into their music, fully bringing that ‘fuck it’ energy from their live shows into the studio. It’s maybe missing a proper banger or two, but that’s not necessarily what this album calls for.
Haim’s statement on Women In Music Pt. III is a confident and emboldened departure from feeling like they have something to prove.
HAIM on record comes across best when not overly fussed up or cluttered over and the many standouts on Women in Music Pt. III prove that point repeatedly. The remainder of it could do with some trimming of the fat and taking it easy on the condiments.
Overall, Women In Music Pt. III is an easy album to love, which, more than anything else, shows the trio's natural chemistry as musicians.
#3 | / | The FADER |
#3 | / | The Forty-Five |
#3 | / | Under the Radar |
#4 | / | DIY |
#4 | / | PopMatters |
#4 | / | Stereogum |
#4 | / | The New York Times: Lindsay Zoladz |
#5 | / | The Wild Honey Pie |
#6 | / | Exclaim! |
#6 | / | Variety: Chris Willman |