{"id":21798,"date":"2016-05-24T15:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T19:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cultureaddicts.com\/?p=21798"},"modified":"2016-05-23T14:55:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T18:55:16","slug":"album-review-mourn-ha-ha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureaddicts.com\/?p=21798","title":{"rendered":"Album review: MOURN – Ha, Ha, He."},"content":{"rendered":"

MOURN recently announced their sophomore album, ‘Ha, Ha, He.,’ which will be out on\u00a0June 3, 2016 via Captured Tracks. ‘Ha, Ha, He.’ is the follow up to their critically acclaimed s\/t debut album.<\/p>\n

MOURN’s self-titled 2014 debut LP gave the world an interesting idea: Catalonian teenagers making\u00a0authentically great guitar-based music in an era where it’s considered almost unfashionable. Since that period, the band has faced some very real issues, both personally and professionally, things that 17-to-20 year olds normally don’t have to worry about. When dealing with such a youthful band, you worry about how they will live up to the early attention as it begins to dissipate.<\/p>\n

On\u00a0‘Ha, He, He.,’\u00a0MOURN\u00a0continue to develop their indie rock chops.\u00a0<\/em>There’s nothing groundbreaking on this album, but it’s a solid indie rock album\u00a0overall and they’ve upped the\u00a0sophistication from their debut. It’s obvious to draw a comparison to Sleater Kinney due to the female vocals and band members, but the only similarity is both bands play indie rock with female vocalists. On first listen, I was a bit ‘meh’ about the album, but after multiple listens, I’m really liking the album. ‘Ha, He, He.’ is\u00a0definitely a grower and you start to see that they’ve developed their own distinct sound and are maturing as artists. A lot of the distinction comes from frontwoman Jazz Rodr\u00edguez Bueno’s accent and sharp, edgy lyrical content. This is especially evident on Storyteller<\/em> and The Unexpected<\/em>. \u0093<\/p>\n

Also, Irrational Friend<\/em>\u0094 lifts\u00a0its chorus, \u0093”Ha. Ha. He!\u0094” from William Blake\u0092s \u0093The Laughing Song<\/em>,\u0094 a poem from his ‘Songs of Innocence\u00a0and Experience’. Much like the poem itself, the song is sort of a last gasp of screaming laughter on an album that’s marked in real time. You can sense the band working through their experiences as a group of young and talented people entering their 20s.<\/p>\n

\"MOURN
\nTrack list:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Flee
\n2. Evil Dead
\n3. Brother Brother
\n4. Howard
\n5. The Unexpected
\n6. Storyteller
\n7. Gertrudis Get Through This
\n8. President Bullshit
\n9. I Am a Chicken
\n10. Second Sage
\n11. Irrational Friend
\n12. Fry Me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The\u00a0standout tracks are the\u00a0opening bars of \u0093Flee\u0094 <\/em>that gallop into \u0093Evil Dead <\/em>with their\u00a0pounding drums,\u00a0angular guitar riff, off-kilter vocals and chorus “Feast on your soul,” and Second Sage<\/em> with its chiming yet beautiful guitar and catchy vocals. You can take a listen to Second Sage via Soundcloud below.<\/p>\n