Portishead's Geoff Barrow might not be a fan of HAIM, but the sibling act have finally released their highly anticipated debut album, Days Are Gone. Since they dropped their debut single, "Forever," in early 2012, fans have been waiting eagerly to hear a full-length by the band. According to singer/guitarist Danielle Haim, even the band have been impatient about the release date.
"Looking back, I wish we would have recorded the album earlier. We just didn't know what was gonna go on after we released the Forever EP," she tells Exclaim! "Everything just moved really fast after that. We got invited to play on so many tours around the world, and we wanted to do that because we have the most fun doing that."
Haim says the delay was largely because the band needed to spend some extra time on getting the album right.
"It was just time," she says. "We needed time in the studio. We're not a band that can bang it out real quick. We take our time and make sure all the sounds we're making are what we want and evoke the feeling that we want when you listen to it."
The album was co-produced by the band, James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & the Machine) and the most in-demand pop producer of the moment, Ariel Rechtshaid, whose most recent work includes Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City and Charli XCX's Romance.
"He's from L.A. and he's worked with a wide range of people," explains Haim. "I'm a huge Cass McCombs fan, I love the records they made together. I'm a huge Usher fan and he did 'Climax' with Diplo. It just seemed like he had an understanding of different types of music and so do we.
"We wanted to explore with different samples and sounds, and we knew he had a lot of knowledge recording bands and making them sound good. We record a lot to tape and cut it up, and it just seemed like it was the right fit, and it totally was. We were lucky we found someone who understands a rock band's plight, and also fart around with hip-hop samples."
HAIM's Days Are Gone is out today (September 30) on Polydor/Columbia.
"Looking back, I wish we would have recorded the album earlier. We just didn't know what was gonna go on after we released the Forever EP," she tells Exclaim! "Everything just moved really fast after that. We got invited to play on so many tours around the world, and we wanted to do that because we have the most fun doing that."
Haim says the delay was largely because the band needed to spend some extra time on getting the album right.
"It was just time," she says. "We needed time in the studio. We're not a band that can bang it out real quick. We take our time and make sure all the sounds we're making are what we want and evoke the feeling that we want when you listen to it."
The album was co-produced by the band, James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & the Machine) and the most in-demand pop producer of the moment, Ariel Rechtshaid, whose most recent work includes Vampire Weekend's Modern Vampires of the City and Charli XCX's Romance.
"He's from L.A. and he's worked with a wide range of people," explains Haim. "I'm a huge Cass McCombs fan, I love the records they made together. I'm a huge Usher fan and he did 'Climax' with Diplo. It just seemed like he had an understanding of different types of music and so do we.
"We wanted to explore with different samples and sounds, and we knew he had a lot of knowledge recording bands and making them sound good. We record a lot to tape and cut it up, and it just seemed like it was the right fit, and it totally was. We were lucky we found someone who understands a rock band's plight, and also fart around with hip-hop samples."
HAIM's Days Are Gone is out today (September 30) on Polydor/Columbia.
