Marcel Winatschek

HAIM: Don’t Save Me

Saw them live once and the thing that mattered was how they actually played together, three of them listening and responding instead of running through a choreographed thing. Their guitars were loud and obvious, not buried under production. Just people in a room playing.

The title appeals to me because it sounds like a statement of fact, not a cry for help. There’s something steady about that. Most pop music is built on needing something from you, your attention or your sympathy or your money. HAIM’s stuff just is. States a position and leaves it at that.