Overview

HAIM
Something to Tell You

Critic Score

Based on 37 reviews

2017 Ratings: #637 / 883

User Score

Based on 484 ratings

2017 Ratings: #418

Liked by 7 people

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July 7, 2017 / Release Date

LP / Format

Pop Rock, Soft Rock / Genres

CRITIC REVIEWS

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Here, HAIM deliver 11 songs of expert songwriting and fine-tuned studio trickery that sharpen their jukebox classicism; percussion-based, harmony-heavy West Coast pop-rock is once again the dominant theme. But compared with their debut, Something is less cluttered with ideas and more deliberate about its influences.

On Something To Tell You, HAIM’s innate sincerity and musical ambitions finally sync up, resulting in one of the more consistent, cohesive, and enjoyable records of the year.

Maybe down the line they'll get restless and experiment outside of their comfort sound, but at this early stage it's a lot more fun to enjoy yourself in the easy-going riffs than to criticise a lack of sonic innovation.

The end result is a record rooted in the bass flicks, shimmering synths and lovelorn lyrics that defined their debut.

It’s as if Haim are pulling apart the production strands of their debut, and pitting them against one another. For majority of the time it works, on a surprisingly low-key second album that’s worth spending some time (or rather, Haim?) with.

If there is a difference between albums one and two, its the slightly twangier vibes and a structural emphasis on keyboard and guitar breakdowns that could be extendable live. It’s not hard to imagine Something To Tell You translating well to Haim’s amped-up stage show.

The LA trio’s second album finds them adding a bittersweet edge to their fusion of retro pop styles.

Haim let in some new styles on Something to Tell You, but they crucially remain masters of rhythm.

Something To Tell You is further proof that the trio are masters of rhythm and are only just getting started in their quest for indie-pop world domination.

Although littered with incandescent beams of hyper-melody – extending a hand to the youth of 2013’s ‘Days Are Gone’, ‘Something To Tell You’ is patient and moves at its own, night-unending pace, where Californian sister act Este, Danielle, and Alana surf some kind of strange paradise between love and loss.

These songs don't always explode with the sunny ebullience of the first LP, but the melodies, beats and ideas are layered and piled high, like a couch-pillow fort.

One gets the sense these songs will be at their best live, a safe distance away from the mixing board and in a setting where HAIM's undeniable raw talent really gets to shine.

The Haim sisters are back with Something To Tell You, a big, brash, bold pop record which has rather more depth than some might expect.

Northern Transmissions

Often very open and brooding, it’s mostly disjointed from their previous record and will likely leave fans a little confused if not let down. But within this are both tracks that fit the bill for older fans and songs that hit something gripping in their unorthodox production and hanging composition.

In all, HAIM continue to craft engaging pop music. When they have something to tell you, you listen.

A record that never gets dull and shows growth musically with all three advancing on their skills.

At many of its poppiest moments, the core of Something to Tell You can be obscured in its crowded tapestry of hooks, licks, and rapid fire refrains. It shines best when Haim step back, relax, and allow the songs to expand into their own idiosyncratic shapes.

Although Haim’s strict adherence to the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach may not produce anything remotely unexpected, it does allow the group to once again cement their status as the current masters of sun-kissed soft-rock.

As a recorded artifact, the album falls short of providing a greater realization of the band’s honest potential, losing its better threads in a clutter of noise too loosely woven together to enhance the intended tapestry.

The reality is that Something to Tell You, though strong in its own right, just doesn’t quite live up to the pomp and circumstance established by Days.

On Something To Tell You, HAIM tend not to over complicate things with their West Coast pop: something that mostly plays to their advantage, but at times leaves them playing it safe.

Clearly, at some point in the last four years, Haim made the decision to keep their odder musical urges in check. You can understand why, although it’s hard not to feel that, had they let them run a little wilder, Something to Tell You might be a richer album.

The ways they refashioned vintage pop on Days Are Gone felt risky, but Something to Tell You offers safer, smaller pleasures.

All the digital trickery may help Haim sound like they belong in the post-rock era – but it risks robbing them of the quality that makes them unique.

10mo

4mo

Precisely wielded hooks and polished production can only carry a song so far, and it's difficult for Something to Tell You to gain much traction when the Haim sisters convey heartsick sentiments in only the broadest and vaguest of terms.

The Haim sisters return with a front-loaded sophomore album.

Something to Tell You doesn’t attempt anything new and keeps it safe ... and when your best track is yet another sanitized extract of Tango in the Night, well, that’s not saying much.

This is the kind of music that artificial intelligence will be creating in the near future, should such dystopian chart-based horror come to pass. Sleek, polished, fine-tuned to every conceivable demand and safer than Fort Knox, Something To Tell You is less artistic expression and more laser-focused consolidation.

Clearly knocked up in the studio following months of weary touring, these songs are as limp as long-lost lettuce, several of them barely meriting the appellation “song” at all.

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User Reviews

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MatchstickMan

Put short, musically this album is enjoyable. However, it feels overly repetitive. Some songs could have ended earlier, or not been used at all.
As far as fitting the genre goes, it's perfect. It does it's job as a pop rock album and does a great job keeping that vibe through the whole album. However, this is their fatal flaw. The album is lacking in creativity and pushing boundaries of pop rock. I can't see this album going anywhere in any history books, but rather as a "footnote" ... read more

exception

Haim's first LP was fantastic. They had youthful charm combined with infectious pop-rock instrumentation, which resulted in one of the most accessible and enjoyable albums of 2013. After a long hiatus, the three sisters return with their sophomore LP, Something to Tell You, which, judging by the singles and song titles, is not much of a change.
Days Are Gone was a popular album at the time of it's release because of the little changes that the band made to contemporary rock and pop music in ... read more

plowo

I was expecting way more after listen to want you back, but it's still a good album.

Well, i heard another time and well it's good and as someone commented here before, the live version of every track should be amazing and better than the studio version

Favs: Want You Back, Little of Your Love, Something To Tell You,You Never Knew, Walking Away, Right Now and Night So Long.

3y*

cfreemon

The sky seemed to be the limit for Haim after their debut in 2013. Days Are Gone was a throwback record that remained refreshingly modern, with excellent production and songwriting throughout. "The Wire" was easily one of my most played songs of that summer. But on Something to Tell You, the next step for Alana, Este and Danielle is a mixed bag. The trio of sisters really nail the sound, adding layers of synths and tuning their guitars to fall even further into 80's bliss a la Stevie ... read more