Album review: Haim, Days Are Gone (Polydor)

Given their status as BBC Sound Of 2013 poll-winners, it's hard not to feel somewhat underwhelmed by Haim's debut album. The LA girl group are pleasant enough - though early descriptions of them as a folk/R&B crossover are absurdly wide of the mark - but there's an insubstantiality at their core. They plug unashamedly into their West Coast heritage: sleek with a veneer of mystique, "Falling" could be a Fleetwood Mac outtake, but the pop-rock of "Forever" and "The Wire" brings to mind the likes of The Bangles and The Go Gos. Even when they attempt something a bit more outré, like the contrast of lumbering drums with sleek harmonies in "My Song 5", it sounds like something off Tusk. Okay, but not much more.

Download: Falling; My Song 5; Forever