Mourn: A brash band fighting to be heard

On a quiet street in the centre of Barcelona, Mourn are smoking cigarettes around a terraced cafe table, refusing to speak about the one thing we want to talk to them about.

The four-piece – all aged between 17 and 20 – shot to acclaim in 2014 for their self-titled debut: a terse blast of post-punk with no need for repeating choruses or even second takes.

Songs like ‘Boys Are Cunts’ made them sound like outcasts in adolescence: too mature to say the same old shit, but too young to care about sounding original.

Then, in December 2015, the band announced on Facebook that second album Ha, Ha, He. was effectively being held hostage in Spain. The post claimed that Sones, Mourn’s label and management team there, hadn’t paid them a cent – including advances, royalties, performance income and merchandising sales.

“We’ve had to pay for our new record out of our own pocket,” it read, adding that while certain costs need to be recouped, this was out of order. “We have no interest in shaming anyone,” the statement continued. “Our only goal is to be able to see the record released.”
But the situation isn’t all that clear-cut. In Barcelona, many Catalan people side with Sones – a boutique label with a solid reputation – while international fans automatically back the band. Seemingly in-between the two sides sits Captured Tracks, a Brooklyn-based independent label that’s putting out Mourn’s new album everywhere except Spain.

The head of that label, Mike Sniper, has publicly said that while he’s not at liberty to discuss who’s wrong or right, no dispute can be worth damaging such a promising career.

It sounds like a mess. And while this isn’t the first time that labels and bands have fallen out over rights, it says a lot about the music business in 2016 that this can happen to a young, independent band just starting out.

Instead of the usual fanfare that accompanies a second release, there are no tour dates on the calendar and the album won’t be available in their home country. And judging by the band’s demeanour, an amicable outcome doesn’t appear imminent.

“We don’t want to talk about it at all,” says Jazz Rodríguez Bueno, singer and guitarist, emphatically. Later, in a follow-up email, she reveals that the group’s parents helped them fund a second album. Pressed on what the experience has taught Mourn about the music industry, Jazz simply answers: “Trust no one.”

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