Quitting gets a bad rap. It sounds like you're giving up on something, but quitting can also mean walking away from something that isn't working for you. Sometimes, it means a fresh start.
That's the kind of quitting HAIM was thinking about when they named their latest album I Quit. It's the Los Angeles band's fourth studio album, produced by Danielle Haim and longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij.
Danielle, Este and Alana Haim joined us to talk about perfecting the drums on I Quit; living together for the first time since they were teenagers; and the freedom, nostalgia and self-discovery they experienced while making the album.
Danielle on writing "Take me back":
It was such a nostalgic time. We were all kind of essentially living together for the first time since high school, and we did find ourselves just going back and recounting stories from our high school. Shout out to our high school, LA County High School for the Arts. It's a free high school that you have to audition for, but we all had the pleasure of going there and got an amazing free education in the arts.
But I will say, it was on a college campus, and there weren't many rules. ... All of our classmates were these, like, amazingly talented and very artistic kind of free souls. You can hear it in the song. There's a lot of crazy stuff that happened, but so joyous.
We also found ourselves listening to a lot of music that we listened to when we were teens at that time. So I feel like, just, even sonically, there is this kind of nostalgic streak throughout that specific song I'm really proud of.
Alana on listening to CDs:
Luckily, my car still has a CD player. Like, I just realized cars are now not coming with CD players anymore. Sadness. Sadness. But we still have all of our mixtapes from high school. Like, a lot of Hot Chip. Like, they all basically started with Hot Chip.
I mean, me and my siblings used to sit for hours. Once we figured out how to burn CDs, it opened up a whole universe to us, and we have all them. They're all named really stupid things. It was awesome."
Danielle on the importance of drums:
It's the first instrument we all learned, and I think rhythm is just so a part of who we are. We also dabbled a little bit in dancing as kids, I think. As a producer, the drums really inform the rest of the song. It really informs the listening experience, and it can really bring out the drum sound and really just change a whole sonic landscape. And, you know, I think also making drums sound, like, organic and unique can really drive me crazy.
Este's dating advice:
I say "Single Girl Summer" forever. I think, also, find someone that doesn't dim your shine. You really need to find someone that, in every fiber of your being, you feel 150% yourself and then some. I think that if you're going to spend time with someone, they really need to be additive. If not, go call your friends to go out. You don't even need to make a plan. Just, like, get out there, hit the streets, have a good time. Life is too short. Just go do it.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.
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