The young, Barcelona-based post-punk band MOURN return this year with a brand new LP called Sorpresa Familia due out June 15th on Captured Tracks. Due to legal issues with the Spanish label Sones, responsible for releasing their self-titled debut in 2015, this is the band’s first collection of new material since their 2016 sophomore effort Ha, Ha, He. (Captured Tracks). During that two year period, the band was unable to put out new material or tour, so, as you might imagine, Sorpresa Familia finds them feisty and ready to release their pent-up creative frustrations. Looking at each of their records as “personal diaries,” the band explains:
“This album sums up everything we’ve lived during the past two years, it wasn’t easy to open up, but we did it anyway without fear. Every frustration, disappointment, delusion, anger…We got everything out, we liberated ourselves and now we’re ready for everything that comes up. The lyrics are very literal; they are our raw experiences–without makeup.”
“Barcelona City Tour” premiered today over at NPR, and it is an angular and ecstatic jab at those that tried to hold MOURN’s creativity captive. In a press release for the track and video, the group explains: “This song is the result of a lot of things we got to endure from people who prefer to remain quiet and live exploited, in exchange to be part of something they consider exclusive.”
The video for the track was directed and edited by the band, and it follows them on a day-long adventure in their home city. Brimming with a buzz of care-free energy, the foursome spends their afternoon taking in the sights before heading off to the club later that night to hear some music. With the rallying cry “They might shut up/But I’ll stand up,” MOURN’s youthful exuberance is undeniably infectious.
