Haim – ‘I Quit’ review: quieter but no less revelatory

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On 2020’s ‘Women in Music Pt. III’, Haim pulled off not one, but two leaps that many bands never manage: bringing their lyrics to the forefront while embracing total genre eclecticism. The resulting record was universally hailed as their best to date, completing their shift from one of the most recognisable acts of the mid-2010s streaming era to generational, timeless pop songwriters. On their fourth album, Danielle, Este and Alana have dug deeper – and left even more of their past behind.

‘I Quit’ ends Haim’s longest gap between releases, and is their first without Ariel Rechtshaid, collaborator on all three previous albums and Danielle’s ex-partner of nine years. In his absence, Danielle and returning co-producer Rostam Batmanglij [Vampire Weekend, Clairo] have scrubbed away the last remnants of the band’s once-signature ’80s reverb.

Instead, the drums and acoustic guitars have an almost lo-fi crunch – like on the opening track, ‘Gone’, where Haim want you to know that they’re not taking any shit: “You can hate me for what I am / You can shame me for what I’ve done / You can’t make me disappear / You never saw me for what I was!” For extra emphasis, they throw in a sample of George Michael’s ‘Freedom ’90’, complementing and clashing with Danielle’s voice in equal measure.

The more obvious pop songs, all sequenced in the album’s first third, sound livelier than they used to, fuelled by joy and defiance. There’s ‘All Over Me’, an unapologetic ode to friends with benefits, ‘Take Me Back’, an almost Swiftian ode to nostalgia, and ‘Relationships’, the lead single with an octave-jumping chorus: “Fucking relationships / Don’t they end up all the same / When there’s no one left to blame?” Where Haim’s lyrics once pleaded with their romantic partners for understanding – ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’, ‘Want You Back’ – now they’re over it completely.

Overall, ‘I Quit’ is the sisters’ quietest album to date. The arrangements have shrunk, and even the backing vocals are less prominent. One could, incorrectly, mistake this for a Danielle Haim solo album: her lyrics pull no punches, and her voice is even more the band’s centre of gravity.

But when Alana sings her first full lead vocal in the band’s discography, on the Arthur Russell-inspired disco cut ‘Spinning’, and Este takes the spotlight on the synth-country ballad ‘Cry’, they’re both revelations – vulnerable like they’ve never been before. Along with the shoegazey ‘Lucky Stars’ and two-step track ‘Million Years’, both sung by Danielle, these are songs that could have been produced as crossover pop hits, like ‘Summer Girl’ or ‘I Know Alone’. But Haim choose to make them more intimate, and arguably, more moving.

‘I Quit’ is set at a crossroads in the grieving process, when lessons have already been learned, but the pain of memories still linger. But this is still a Haim album, and their songs never linger on despair, are never far from the warmth of their sisterhood. They’re no longer the pop group you once knew, but this record is proof that sometimes, you really do need to let go in order to grow.