Inspired by legendarily raw artists like
Throwing Muses and
Patti Smith, Barcelona's
Mourn started forging their fearless sound while they were in their teens. Equally at home singing about zombies in love (as they did on their 2015 self-titled debut) or soul-sucking record company execs, the band overcame label issues to deliver 2018's triumphant
Sorpresa Familia and added extra firepower to their music on 2020's
Self Worth.
Mourn began as a collaboration between guitarists/vocalists Jazz Rodríguez Bueno and Carla Pérez Vas, a pair of teenage friends from El Maresme, Catalonia, Spain. Bueno grew up in a musical family: her father
Ramón, a musician who performs as
the New Raemon, introduced her to
Patti Smith,
PJ Harvey, and other artists who influenced her uncompromising songwriting style. When she met Vas at school, their shared fondness for '90s indie rock led them to make music together. The pair uploaded videos of their bracing acoustic songs online, where they caught the attention of the Spanish label Sones.
To record their first album,
Mourn became a quartet, adding drummer
Antonio Postius and bassist
Leia Rodríguez (who was just 15 when she joined). The band recorded their self-titled debut album in two days, and Sones released it in September 2014. The following February, Captured Tracks re-released
Mourn. Just over a year later, the group returned with
Ha, Ha, He., which included songs informed by
Throwing Muses, mid-'90s Chicago post-rock, and the poetry of
William Blake. However, issues with Sones prevented the group from promoting that album to its fullest.
Mourn settled with their former label in 2017, and embarked on their first North American tour following that year's covers EP Over the Wall.
The band channeled their legal frustrations into their vibrant third album,
Sorpresa Familia, which Captured Tracks released in 2018. Following the record's release,
Mourn parted ways with
Postius and brought on Victor Álvarez Ridao as their drummer. To make their fourth album,
Mourn decamped to a house in the Pyrenees and used their personal and political frustrations as fodder for the cathartic songs on October 2020's
Self Worth. ~ Heather Phares