On the hot, late summer night of August 4, moving past sound issues and a lackluster crowd, Catalonian indie-punk band MOURN brought their cohesive, female-led sound to the Larimer Lounge.
Playing through some of their earlier hits and sounds off of their newest album, “Sorpresa Familia,” MOURN entertained a crowd that truly didn’t deserve the punky quartet. The set opened with the first track from their new album, “Barcelona City Tour,” a rhythmic, shouty song that reflects the young band’s legal debacle with their Spanish label Sones. The band brought the room to attention as they stood around drummer Antonio Postius’s floor-tom and collectively banged out the tune’s initial beats.
The quartet played their hearts out, with guitarists and co-vocalists Carla Pérez Va and Jazz Rodríguez Bueno working through rough patches of dropped vocals without losing any sense of their brisk, urgent melodical pace. Postius’s aggressive drumming, combined with the at-times screaming female vocals, riveting guitar movements and Rodriguez’s little sister Leia’s impressive bass skills, produced a one of a kind live show that harkens back to compact, DIY punk shows of the past.
While playing some old (which is a funny thing to say for a band whose oldest members were born in 1996) hits (such as personal favorite “Otitis”), MOURN mainly stuck with songs off of “Familia.” The band kept up their hectic energy throughout the show, including a delightful duet between Jazz Rodriguez and Brandon Williams of opener Chastity. Jazz and Carla fleshed their melodic chops with the downtempo “Candle Man” but kept the punky zest alive with the playful “Fun at the Geysers,” a song aimed directly at their former label.
With “Familia,” MOURN developed an album of vengeful, fully fleshed out punk. In coming to terms with the termination of their relationship with their Spanish label, the life of being young and in a band and the general trials and tribulations of the modern music industry, MOURN has developed their playing into a spectacular live set that shows the young musicians dedication to their craft.
The band told the Clarion about the inspiration behind their new album: “What inspired the album were our personal experiences. We always say that our albums are like our personal diaries. We use them as an emotional exercise and to let all the feelings out in a healthy way.”
The members also explained where they see their band going after the release of their newest album and their American tour: “Right now we are focused on playing these songs and touring. We want to keep working hard on this project. We haven’t thought about how the fourth record is gonna be yet; we just finished the third one and now we are ready to play it live. Now we are more convinced than ever that this is what we want to do for a living and we will fight for it until the end.”
As a band full of young artists, the band gave this advice to other young aspiring artists: “What we would advise is, do what you enjoy and don’t let people have more power than you on something that you created. Take control of your situation and be always aware of the consequences of a bad decision.”
