Review: Mourn – Mourn
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Mourn
Mourn
[Captured Tracks]
MOURN they call themselves, and mourn they do. Imagine if you could reconnect with the angst of your 15-year-old self, and now imagine that self had a strong vocal range and a solid sense of timing. What would that self sound like? The overall sense can be captured in Mourn’s song titles alone; ‘Dark Issues’, ‘Misery Factory’, and ‘You Don’t Know Me’ could be lifted from pages of the diary of a misunderstood youth (sigh). This overwhelming sense of youthful anger and hurt takes over the album, but shouldn’t deter listeners who have survived that stage of adolescence. There is something to be said for revisiting that state of uncertainty, a state which Mourn capture wholly and honestly.
Mourn is highly energetic, giving the impression of an unpolished and truthful outpouring without self-censorship. This recording of ‘Phillphius’ could be the band’s first run though of the song, given the grainy timbre and an almost dissonant harmonic structure. The impression is one of listening in to the early stages of the musical development, and recognising the original tone the band aspired to convey. The unforgiving ‘poor you, poor you’ of the chorus is a good indication of this tone, sang with rawness and malice, a harmonious ‘fuck you’ to whoever dared to cross vocalist Jazz Rodríguez Bueno.
‘Jack’, like ‘Phillphius’ directs a malicious ‘go fuck yourself’ to the song’s namesake. The track is what your adolescent self would barge into a friend’s attic to write as quickly and angrily as possible, following the absolute worst break-up you have had in your entire 15 years on this planet. With no sense of pining for lost relationships in sight, the band seems to capture the hurt, anger, and pain of being totally and utterly screwed over.
The influence of PJ Harvey and Patti Smith is evident in every vocal line uttered. A balance is struck between gritty breathless performances and oftentimes beautiful melodic tones. There is a sense that lead singer Bueno is vocally capable of a lot more than is presented on the album, but chooses to hold something back, because she doesn’t owe you anything okay? Sometimes beautiful and often gritty, her vocal performances, if this album is anything to go by, will grow along with the band’s overall sound.
Mourn is heartfelt, raw, and thoroughly emotional. The teenage Barcelonians’ youthful attitude exudes from every element of the music, buzzing with energy and raw emotion. This is a fantastic debut which alludes to genres that time may have forgotten. Their immediate success is a great indication of things to come. The quality of their song writing and confidence in their sound will show this group growing into something really special.
