Song Exploder - HAIM - Summer Girl

Episode Date: January 27, 2021

HAIM is a band from Los Angeles, made up of the sisters Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim. They’ve released three albums, and they’ve been nominated for three Grammys. Over the years, they��ve worked extensively with Grammy-winning producer Ariel Rechtshaid. Danielle and Ariel share the emotional backstory of the song “Summer Girl,” from HAIM’s third album, Women in Music Pt. III. In this episode, they break down their experience creating the song, along with Este Haim and the song’s co-producer and co-writer Rostam. For more, visit songexploder.net/haim.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe. This episode contains explicit language. Haim is a band from Los Angeles, made up of the sisters Danielle Esty and Alanaheim. They've released three albums, and they've been nominated for three Grammys. Over the years, they've worked extensively with Grammy-winning producer Ariel Reckshide. He and Danielle are also a couple, and I only mentioned, that because it's relevant to the story you're about to hear. I spoke to Danielle and

Ariel about the making of the song Summer Girl from Haim's third album, Women in Music, Part 3. In this episode, they break down the song, along with Esty Haim and the song's co-producer and co-writer, Rostom. My name is Danielle Hyam. My name is Ariel Rekshai. I'll never forget I had heard a Cass McComb song that I loved called County Ler. line. And I remember looking up, who did this album? Who produced this? Like, this is awesome. And I saw this name, Ariel Rekshide. So then I think, like a couple weeks later, I heard the usher song, Climax. I looked it up and oh my gosh, there's that name again, Ariel Rekshide. Wait, he did Cass McCombs and then he did an usher song. So I remember telling my manager like, hey, I want to meet with this guy.

and that's how we met in 2012. We had a chemistry and did a few songs. And at one point, I was in London mixing a record and Haim happened to be camped out there doing press and we sort of reconnected for the first time in a while. I don't know if it was just a moment in time like two Valley kids trapped in London. You know, like that's kind of when it started to be like,

hmm. And it was a slow build after. that. But that was, I think, when Danielle and I, like, suddenly had this connection. And so we had just kind of moved in together, and then suddenly I got this scary news. While we were making our second album, something to tell you, we got the news that Ariel was diagnosed with cancer. And it was right when we were kind of starting the album. And it was very hard. You know, I was like, of course you guys should do this without me. Let me deal with this and I'll see you later, you know, and that didn't even register.

They're just like, what do you need? We're here, you know, like by my side the whole time. I think we were just trying to get through. Sorry, let me just like get my shit together. I don't know if there are words for how supportive Danielle and her sisters were. Obviously, I just felt like I wanted to be there for Ariel and nothing. about our second album was about what it was going on because it was happening at the same time and I don't think I could process it. Yeah, we essentially like limped through the making of

something to tell you. I mean, we worked as hard as we could, but it was a lot of hurdles, you know? That was really like an intense period and then we got through it. I think it was the summer of 2018 and we had just come off of doing this like amazing sold out tour of the UK and Europe and at this point Ariel was he was on the road to recovery and it was looking positive I was very very very lucky

very fortunate we were starting to like believe and accept the fact that it was just like we're good the idea of that era being over it was like I can finally take a breath and that summer we took a little vacation

I finally felt like Like, I could process what was going on the last couple of years. I started thinking about this song that summer. For some reason, I just always think about drums when I'm thinking about how a song's going to even start. You know, me and my two sisters were drummers first. Our dad all taught us drums when we were, like, three. I just remember on this vacation, like, being like,

I want to use this drum pattern that I've never used. I know this is, like, so specific. But it's kind of a pattern that, that when you go to a guitar center and a kid sits on the drums, it's the first pattern that they play. It's do, do, do, ta, tic-to-to-do-do-dun. So I remember realizing that I also had garage band on my phone on this vacation because I didn't have anything with me.

And I was like, oh, I can do something on my phone. Amazing. Let me try and, like, program this drum beat. And then I came up with this line, do-da-d-d-d-dun. That was, like, super swinging, like, do-do-do. And all of a sudden, like with the straight drum part and this, cool like bass line. I was like, wow, this is like cool.

This is a cool vibe. And I just started kind of, I put like a bunch of reverb on my vocal and I just started like mumbling a melody that I had over the drums and the bass. And I ended up writing a lot on my phone that summer. But for some reason, like that idea, every couple weeks, I'd just be like, oh yeah, I should like listen to that thing again. Whatever that thing was, every time I'd think of. about it, I would think like, okay, what is it?

What I thought the song should be about started to form, because there's this part that I wrote, like, da-da-da-da-da. Like the chorus was just this melody, you know, and I was like, I'm your, you know, fuzzy girl. Or like, I just thought, like, I wanted to be Ariel's kind of light in that gnarly time. And then after that vacation, just kept thinking about these little sketches

that I wrote on a garage band. And I was like, I need to really just sit down and start writing. So I brought this idea to my sisters. My name is Esty Haim. And the thing that struck me as the bass player was the baseline. I was like, this is sick. And then Danielle kind of started opening up about what she wanted to write the song about. And then I was like, wow, okay.

I mean, if you're willing to open up about this, I will go on this journey with you. I remember her talking about this feeling of being on the road and really wanting to kind of be this ray of sunshine for Ariel when he was feeling down. And I thought that that was exactly what she was doing on tour. We're such a close-knit group of people. We love Arial more than anything. We love him and he's like a brother to me. And honestly, like the words really just kind of poured out.

L.A. on my mind, I can't breathe. There when I close my eyes, so hard to reach. I mean, L.A. on my mind, I can't breathe, was kind of the idea, you know, when we first got the news, we were on tour. So this idea that he was dealing with this by himself at home was heartbreaking. And I felt guilty that I wasn't there. It was a lot of emotions. And so the idea, sorry, the idea that he was here alone, and I'd have a couple minutes to talk to him between soundcheck and the show,

and just kind of be positive and be kind of a light, because I know he was going through it at home. Your smiles turning to crying. It's the same release. And you always know. And you always know. Just thinking about. that and that dynamic, that's what I envisioned because I had this idea of I'm your something girl.

And so at that point, I was like, okay, I don't know, maybe I should take this to Rostam and see if he's as excited as I am about it. I'm Rostom. I'm one of the producers of Summer Girl and I also helped write it. We worked a little bit with Rostam on our second album and he's such a close friend and I'm such a huge fan of his. And I said, I have this thing. I don't know. I think there's something to it. You know, oftentimes it's my job to hear that it could be a song. And I definitely did think it could be a song. So, yeah, when I showed it to Rossin, it was like, okay, so it's really simple melody,

but there's like this part that's like, do-d-do-do, like a do-do part, kind of like walk on the wild side or something. He's like, hey, play it for me. I can see him light up. And I'm like, oh my gosh, maybe there is something to the song. The first thing that we did was I, like, recreated the demo for my phone onto Ross-Dam's computer. So I did the drum part on his midi keyboard with some kind of live-ish roomy drum sound. And then I turned to her, I was like, so do you have lyrics? She's like, yeah, I have lyrics.

And then it came to the summer, you know, the chorus part, I'm your sunny girl. I just kind of was like, I don't know, like, should it be like sunny or like? I said, try changing sunny girl to summer girl. The word sunny, it conjures up these sort of like 60s over the time. top joyful sentiments. And I felt like the song was not just about over the top joy. There was complexity there. And I felt like the word summer could embody more of that complexity. I'm your summer girl. I'm your summer girl. Do do do do do do do. As soon as we started working on this song, we were already referencing Lou Reed. Like, take a walk on the wild side.

Like, it should have, like, that kind of vibe. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. So one of the things that makes Walk on the Wild Side so unique is the fact that it has two bass lines. It has an electric bass part, and it has a sliding, upright bass part. And then he came up with the idea of having two bases like that song over the garage band bass that I had put in in the demo. And I thought that was something so specific and unique that we were clearly referencing this.

This was like a love letter to walk on the wild side. And when that kind of mentality took hold, I felt like everything started moving faster in terms of the recording and the production of the song. There is a sax line at the end of Walk on the Wild Side. So he, like, got up like a sax sound on his computer. It sort of sounds like a saxophone. It kind of sounds like sort of stiff and robotic and a little bit eerie in a bad way.

And he was like, I hear this part. Like, I can feel the edges. And he just kind of saying this. And I can see the angels coming. And I was like, wait, I love that. I love that. Let's put that in the end. In my head, I was like, that's such a Bono line.

Like, I could just picture Bono. I was like, maybe we should ask him if he would sing that section of the song. And Danielle was kind of like, well, you know I know him. And I was like, what? And she was like, well, when I lost my voice in Ireland, he sent me this care package. It was the sweetest thing. And he recommended a doctor. So I have his number.

And Ross was like, you've got to text. Bono and I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? When to text Bono, he's like, yeah, I hear him. And I think we got super drunk and he finally convinced me. He's like, just send it. I was like, so, ah. So I sent Bono the song. He was so nice. He was like, this is great. Like, he was like, let me see if I, where I fit in. And I was just like, my mind was like exploding. And finally he emailed or texted me back. It was like, you know what? I'm like so sick. I'm so sorry. Like, unless you want like a blowhorn on this song, like my voice is just

so shot. You know, I don't think I can come up with anything in time. And that was that. And I can see the angels coming down. It's like a wave that's crashing on the ground. And I can see the angels coming down. We got to the point where we had a version of it that had sax, drums,

bass, sketched in, not the final versions of those things. Because the next thing was that we went to the studio called Vox that I love working at and we all love working at. Esty recorded her stand-up bass part. I'm not an upright player by any means. But I think in my mind I was like, it's literally a slide and like two notes. I should be able to do this.

I'm six feet. I'm a tall girl. But I had this. two engineers holding the bass for me while I played the notes because I kept falling over because the bass was too heavy for me. But I did it. Rostam knew this kid Henry Solomon who plays sax and invited him over to play the line, so it wasn't just midi. Henry Solomon brought such joy to the song. That's me playing drums. Yeah, I play drums on all the Hym records.

Daniel's inviting and open and wants people to come in and play on stuff, but the one thing that she's always doing is playing the drums. Hearing Danielle play is always fun for me because I think she's so good. I think that's probably my favorite part of the song is just how good the drums sound

because of her playing. At that point, Ariel hadn't worked on the song yet, and I was like, what is it about? It felt so personal to our story that I wasn't ready to be like, and this is about you, you know? I think actually now that I think about it is Ross Damme, he was just like,

it's about you. And I was like, what? And so then I took a real hard look at it. I'm like, well, this is such a like intense thing. If I'm the listener or if I'm me, I want to hear more about what you're talking about. I remember Arly being like, there's something missing. There's really something missing here. Let's try and figure it out.

Part of the experience of what that song was about was me kind of being like freaked out in bed and being like, oh my God, what is going on? And Daniel, it's snapping me out of it. You're going to be fine. We're going to go to this thing. We're going to deal with it. So I was like, I just want some of that commanding energy. I want you to, like, just start talking with a bit more command than the energy of the rest of the song.

Suddenly, our homie, Paul Thomas Anderson, heard the song, and he was like, we could do a video for this. In addition to being an eight-time Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter, Paul Thomas Anderson has directed six music videos for Hym. And we were like, wait, wait, wait, pump the brakes. we haven't even finished the song. And he was like, who gives a shit? Let's do a video for it.

And, you know, Paul Thomas Anderson says jump. You say how high. We're such big fans of him. And to collaborate with someone like that is unbelievable. Like, it's very strange to even talk about it. So we were like, let's do it. Paul was saying, like, I think there should be a part where she's just like looking at the camera and speaking. And I'm like, hey, man, I'm thinking we're going to add this bridge where Danielle's

talking to me. And then he sent unused dialogue from some like stuff he'd written in the past. Steve, any of this inspires you? So we had these pages of this dialogue and we kind of just like picked out certain words and it's weird how the words on the page fit the song. But I remember reading like an earthquake drill. You know, I was like thinking about like how we're, this is like a first run through some of life's challenges. And that's what it feels like, an earthquake drill. I need you to understand. These are the earthquake drills that we ran.

Under the freeway overpasses. The tears behind your dark sunglasses. The fears inside your heart's deepest gashes. And, you know, I was thinking about how Danielle was like by my side and lifting me up. And there was like another line about walk beside me. Walk beside me. Not behind me. I sent it to Paul.

He was like, that's great. I'm like, well, you want writing crazy? He's like, no, I didn't write that. You completely recontextualized it. Feel my unconditional love. I still, I love this song. It represents a really important part of the last couple years. Yeah, and also we hadn't really had a chance to stop and talk about it.

We're definitely not, like, the most communicative about our sensitive. feelings. There's just like all these things happening at once and we were just trying to survive it. It was traumatic. On a deep level, I'm probably still dealing with a lot of those emotions. I have a therapist now. I'm working on myself. But I do feel like this song in itself was a healing process. And I also think sitting with my boyfriend talking about it maybe has some added. added emotions in there. But, yeah, I think I think I'm still processing it all. And now here's Summer Girl by Haim in its entirety.

They're so hard to reach. Your smiles turning to crying. It's the same release. From over my shoulder, I need you. I need you to understand. These are the earthquake drills that we ran. Under the freeway overpass. The tears behind you.

Dark SunLess, the fears inside your heart's deepest gas. It's at SongExploder.net slash Hymm. You'll find links to buy or stream Summergirl, and you can watch the music video that Paul Thomas Anderson directed. I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length, and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishikesh, her way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career.

And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists. And it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Rope. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April. and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city,

like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin, Clion, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage, and then I'll play with my band. The album is called In The Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co, or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks.

This episode of Song Exploder was made by me, Rishi Cash, your way, with editing help from Tini Lieberson and Casey Deal. Thanks to Matt DeMona for his help with the interview recordings. Carlos Lerma makes illustrations for each episode, which you can find on the Song Exploder website and Instagram. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts. You can learn more about all of our shows at Radiotopia.fm.

If you'd like to support the podcast, you can get a Song Exploder t-shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt. You can also follow the show on Twitter and Instagram at SongExploder. My name is Rishi Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening.