Album #359: Haim – Women in Music, Pt. III

• Released: 2020
• Origin: Los Angeles, California
• Label: Columbia
• Best Track: Leaning on You

It’s taken me ages to listen to this. I blame that on Apple Music taking ages to add it, and myself being too cheap/skint to buy records.

Haim are probably the closest thing we have to Fleetwood Mac these days – a band nobody is too cool or not cool enough to like. Their melodies keep pop fans happy, while their rock and country credentials make them 6 Music suitable too. And while the comparison with Mac is a little tired and lazy, but it remains accurate.

That’s despite a more experimental and genre-bending approach from the sisters on their third album Women in Music, Pt. III, which was meant to be released in April but was delayed until June by COVID. The folk/country tinge remains on opener ‘Los Angeles’, an account of pride and fatigue in your hometown. My favourite tracks keep changing but I think I’ve now settled on ‘Gasoline’, with its effortless coolness and numb lyrics, and the simple, stomping country vibes of ‘Leaning on You’, the most Stevie Nicks-esque track on the record.

It’s a wonderful album, and to think I almost let the year pass without playing it!