page_title: Haim (band)
section_title: Critical reception
hierarchical_section_title: Haim (band) / Critical reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Haim at Way Out West 2013 in Gothenburg, Sweden
context_page_description: Haim is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles. The band consists of three sisters: Este Haim, Danielle Haim, and Alana Haim. In addition to their primary instruments, each member is also proficient in several others. The group's pop sound on their studio work stands in contrast to the more rock-based music of their live shows.
  The sisters grew up in a musical family, and began playing instruments from an early age in the cover band Rockinhaim, fronted by their parents, Moti and Donna. The two elder sisters, Este and Danielle, began performing with the pop group Valli Girls in 2005. They released a few songs on soundtrack and compilation albums under that name, but left the group shortly after an appearance at the 2005 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. They formed Haim with younger sister Alana in 2007, but did not seriously consider it a professional career for some years. After Danielle became a successful touring guitarist, first with Jenny Lewis and later with Julian Casablancas, Haim reformed as a full-time operation in 2012.
context_section_description: Critical reaction to Haim has mostly been positive. PopMatters' Matt James wrote "It'd be hard to truly dislike Haim. They're an eminently likeable, albeit slightly kooky, trio whose story already bears the frisson of legend." Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis praised the band's songwriting abilities, saying it "has a certain kind of glossily depthless pop perfection down pat". The band's sound has been described as "nu-folk-meets-nineties-R&B" and "music that sounds like it was written on a lakeside retreat attended by Stevie Nicks, John Waite and En Vogue".
  In her survey of pop music in 2013, Observer critic Kitty Empire praised the band for "using the vector of harmonies to splice R&B with 1970s soft rock. They laid waste, too, to a herd of ghastly old hobby horses about guitar bands being unmarketable and record sales only being tied to women's state of undress." The Independent was more ambivalent about the band, saying there was "an insubstantiality at their core" of their music, as they "plug unashamedly" into the heritage of acts such as Fleetwood Mac and The Bangles, ultimately finding Haim as "Okay, but not much more".
caption: Haim performing at the Way Out West in 2013
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