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Review: 'MOURN'
'Ha, Ha, He!'   

-  Label: 'Captured Tracks'
-  Genre: 'Indie' -  Release Date: '3rd June 2016'

Our Rating:
In Fawlty Towers the hapless servant Manuel's ineptitudes were explained to bewildered guests with the line: "I'm sorry. He's from Barcelona".

Mourn created a buzz in 2014 with a snarling self titled debut album recorded when they were still teenagers. A bonus track bluntly entitled 'Boys Are Cunts' gave notice that they were not inclined to mince their words.

They're from Barcelona.

The four-piece (three women plus one drummer guy) are still young enough to be dubbed "punk Catalonian teenage wunderkinds" but playing the age card is destined to end in tears or a dead end.

Their sophomore release finds them plundering a cool post punk record collection that almost certainly contains the works of Sleater-Kinny and PJ Harvey. Nothing wrong with that so long as they bring something new to the table but the evidence here is that in there is some truth after all in the banal line of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder's Ebony And Ivory - "We all know that people are the same where ever you go".

Still there's plenty to like. I applaud the crunchy guitars and jagged refusal to write catchy hooks or pander to commercial tastes.

The tracks are short, sharp and feisty. Gertrudis, Get Through This! is not just a great title but also simmers with fierce energy.

Irrational Friend, the penultimate track, is where the album gets its title. This, in turn, takes the 'Ha, Ha, He!' chant (which actually sounds more like 'hi, hi hey' they way they sing it) from William Blake's Laughing Song: "Come live and be merry and join with me / To sing the sweet chorus of 'Ha Ha He'".

It's a curious reference because there's nothing sweet or amusing in this track or the album as a whole.

Maybe it's ironic. Perhaps something is lost in translation. Remember, they're from Barcelona!

Mourn on Bandcamp
  author: Martin Raybould

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MOURN - Ha, Ha, He!