New Music Reviews: HAIM, Ezra Furman, and The Mars Volta

Hopefully there’s something for everyone – the smooth pop/rock of California’s HAIM, Ezra Furman’s intense psychedelia, and The Mars Volta’s jazzy Latin rhythms.

HAIM

I Quit

2025, 7/10
It’s been five years since HAIM’s last record. In the meantime, Alana Haim starred in 2021’s Licorice Pizza, and has other movies slated for release. 2020’s excellent Women In Music Part III broke new ground for the group, but I Quit feels like it’s treading water, pleasant fluff.

The opening track, ‘Gone’, doesn’t help. It relies heavily on a sample from George Michael’s ‘Freedom’, and it feels like an unimaginative opening.

I Quit was recorded when all three members were single. Danielle broke up with longtime partner Ariel Rechtshaid, who produced HAIM’s three previous records. This couplet on standout track ‘All Over Me’ sums up Danielle’s headspace on the album – craving physical connection but without the confines of a relationship.

Your bed or my floor, but don’t tell me that you’re in love
‘Cause I’m not trying to walk the line

All Over Me

Even trivial HAIM is enjoyable – their combination of 1970s Fleetwood Mac and 1990s R&B is smooth and appealing. ‘Spinning’, with Alana on lead vocals, is tuneful and energetic. ‘Take Me Back’ sounds like a weird hybrid of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘I Know I’m Not Wrong’ and Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’. The sample from U2’s ‘Numb’ works well on closer ‘Now It’s Time’.

I Quit is enjoyable fluff, but a more substantial album next time would be great.

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Ezra Furman

Goodbye Small Head

2025, 9/10
The last time I checked in with Ezra Furman, she was still identifying as a man. Furman’s early albums with the Harpoons had a folk bent, but recently she’s embraced an intense, psychedelic sound. She describes Goodbye Small Head as “orchestral emo prog-rock record sprinkled with samples.”

There’s a difference between embracing suffering versus asking for more. We know the toxic myth of, “We want our artists to suffer because that’s when they really make powerful work.” I think it’s a misunderstanding of what’s happening. I think what makes good art is when somebody is asking for more and they don’t have to be in a tiny cage, there are always thresholds to cross. I really believe in the beautiful discipline of never being satisfied.

Ezra Furman, Under the Radar

The intensity is palpable. Standout track ‘Sudden Storm’ was written about the “mystical quality” of some epileptic seizures. The record barely lets up – even the gentle songs like ‘You Hurt Me I Hate You’ feature intense vocal performances. ‘Power of the Moon’ features the record’s most memorable riff. Closer ‘I Need the Angel’ starts with a gentle harpsichord before launching into a raw rocker.

Furman’s existential intensity on Goodbye Small Head is impressive.

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The Mars Volta

Lucro sucio; los ojos del vacío

2025, 7.5/10
Guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala first worked together in the Texas post-hardcore band At The Drive In. They left in 2001 to form The Mars Volta, who specialised in progressive rock with ambitious records like Frances the Mute and Amputechture. They split in 2013, but reunited in 2022.

Lucro sucio; los ojos del vacío (the only album title I know with a semi-colon) is their third since their reunion. They announced the album when playing it live in its entirety, and haven’t given any interviews around it. The artwork features a puzzle for fans to solve.

Coming after epic efforts like De-Loused in the Crematorium, it’s disarmingly straightforward. The average track length for Frances the Mute was fifteen minutes, here the average tune is less than three minutes. But it takes a talented band to change gears from intense prog to tuneful jazz-infused pop. Bixler-Zavala navigate the pretty tunes, using his pure higher register. You might wish for more intense tunes like the minute-long ‘Reina Tormenta’. ‘Celaje’ features psychedelic jazz textures – they’re a welcome direction.

Mars Volta are wildly different from when I last checked in with them last, but their new direction is surprisingly effective.

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