Barcelona, Spain's Mourn openly cite PJ Harvey as a major influence of theirs. While other '90s bands such as Sleater-Kinney and to a lesser extent Exile In Guyville-era Liz Phair also pop through when listening to this debut, the debt to PJ Harvey’s early albums such as Dry, Is This Desire? and To Bring You My Love are obvious. With influences like this, the release rides the line between post-punk and the more muscular indie rock of days gone by. This is made all the more impressive when one considers the members of Mourn range from 15 to 18.

Frontwoman Jazz Rodiriguez Bueno has a voice that’s power extends well beyond its 18 years, and it can be felt on tracks such as “Your Brian Is Candy,” “Otitis” and “Marshall.” The one downside to Bueno’s vocals, powerful as they are, they often lack any noticeable deviation when it comes to how they deliver the lyrics. Even when the band becomes more rhythmic in their playing, Bueno tends to stick to a woeful croon vocally. On the tracks where she steps out of her comfort zone, especially “You Don’t Know Me," she succeeds the most. A lot of this can be attributed to age and not having the confidence in her voice that she will surely find over the next several years.

For such a young band, Mourn has a strong understanding of musical hooks and put them to use throughout this release, especially on "Jack" and the aforementioned "Marshall." These tracks bring to mind, in addition to the previously mentioned influences, indie rock legends Superchunk. Again, just as with the vocals, the band succeeds the most as a whole when they are stepping outside their comfort zone and blending their influences together within the same song.

Despite wearing a number of influences on their sleeve throughout the album, you’re never left feeling like you’d rather listen to one of the bands that influenced them. You get the urge to revisit those bands after finishing this album, because Mourn takes you to the same place those bands do. This album is a great foundation, and it will be interesting to see how it gets built on it as the band matures as musicians. While by no means an instant classic, this album has a new band on my radar to see what they do next, which, at the end of the day, is all that most bands can hope for from their debut album.