Gig review: Haim, Glasgow ABC

This LA sister act were tipped for success right at the start of the year, when they won the BBC Sound of 2013 poll.

The Haim sisters. Picture: Facebook

Haim - Glasgow ABC

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While others could lay more credible claim to that title as the year has worn on, the Haim sisters are doing alright for themselves so far with a chart-topping debut album, Days Are Gone, to their name and, at this gig, a new bonnet for eldest sibling Este, swiftly fashioned from a bra thrown from the audience.

While it was heartening to see a frontline of confident women onstage, their staccato sunshine pop schtick sounded a little too manicured to justify the projectile underwear. Like many enthusiastically hyped acts, what sounds intriguing on paper was underwhelming in execution.

Over the course of a brief set, ticking off most of their album tracks, they eked as much performance value as they could from what they had to offer, but never bettered the clipped funk rhythm, 80s guitar licks and subtly interwoven vocals of opening number Falling.

My Song 5 aped the don’t-call-me-baby sass of the R’n’B girl groups, while Don’t Save Me relied on seductive cowbells and syndrums to provide colour.

Tellingly, the sisters’ one cover version – Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well – though essentially a blues jam, was still meatier and more memorable than any of their own slippery songs, and gave middle sister Danielle the chance to show off the guitar-playing skills she honed in Cee Lo Green’s and Julian Casablancas’s touring bands.