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Haim Takes a Rocky Path to Romantic Resignation in ‘I Quit’: Album Review
In Haim's fourth album, 'I Quit,' the band moves toward a more minimalistic, live-sounding rock feel as they explore ditching hopeless relationships.
Breakup albums are so common that it’s surprising no one previously had the temerity and/or genius to name such a record “I Quit.” If that bluntness sound a little prosaic at first, there’s a curt poetry to it that comes into focus listening through 15 tracks that consist almost entirely of sisters Danielle, Alana and Este Haim handing in their respective resignations to long- or short-term partners, effectively immediately. At the same time, I appreciated hearing Danielle (a multi-instrumentalist) get bashier on the drums on “All Over Me,” or contributing power chords and a flipped-out guitar solo to tracks like “Gone.” It feels like getting closer to the source of what the band might sound like in the rehearsal studio, with less sense of anyone else putting a stamp on that. “You know I’ve always had a wild heart / And that won’t ever change / So when you see me out with someone else / I will not be ashamed,” sings Danielle, with lyrics that extol the benefits of having a fuckboy: “I know it’s not quite what you want, being on call for me… / Your bed or my floor / But don’t tell me that you’re in love / ’Cause I’m not trying to walk the line.” Maybe only female artists could get away nowadays with that cavalier of a traditionally male attitude about situationships, but it feels as bold as it means to be.
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