From the farmlands of South Wales, the post-punk band MORN are without a doubt destined for big things. With piercing guitar riffs and unrefined vocals that create doom over beautiful chords, the band is made up of two sets of siblings: Rob and Oli, and Noah and Mae. In conversation with the band, they discussed their experience as an upcoming band with me.
Q: You’ve built around 5,000 monthly listeners on Spotify with only one officially released single. Has that early attention felt exciting, motivating, or unexpectedly pressurising?
It’s great to know that people are enjoying our music.
It gives us another reason to keep going. For us, the pressure we feel is mainly what we put on ourselves, trying to make something we’re really proud of. We make music because we love it but our goal is for our music to connect with people, so we’re so grateful for all the support we’ve had so far.
There’s a long road ahead...
Q: If someone is seeing Morn live for the first time this year, what would they leave feeling about the band that they couldn’t get from streaming alone?
The best live show money can buy hehehee.
Really though, we just try our absolute best to blow people’s minds. We try to leave it all out there on the field & make an impression that they won’t forget. They will hear plenty of unreleased music too, we’ve been working really hard writing.
We have so many songs now, so it’ll be different every time too...
Q: What are the main sonic influences when creating your music?
Personally, I’ve been really influenced by the music of Gareth Liddiard recently, an Australian songwriter.
He writes such great commentaries in his songs and has such a unique style of playing guitar. It’s such an interesting mix, but definitely not for everybody. Sometimes I even find it a bit much.
We’re all also really into Battles, but specifically the one song, ‘Rainbow’. We’ve been trying to replicate the feeling that it gives us in our own music.
Q: Your session with Huw Stephens on BBC Radio Wales in March felt like a real milestone.
What did it mean to have someone with such a great track record of spotting emerging talent early on, championing Morn on the radio?
It was great fun to do! He’s pretty much welsh royalty at this point, we’re so honoured ton have his support!
It was nice to have a proper chat for the first time.
Q: By the time this interview is out, everyone will have two new Morn tracks to sit with. What kind of world do these next two songs bring people into?
Both tracks, especially “The Standard Model” sits in the world of Modern Man, our first release. In the production of it, and sonically too. But the second track “I Watched You as Your Mind Slipped Far (Away from Me)” shows a bit more of the direction that we might be heading.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about what you think sets you apart from others? What is Morn trying to say that other bands aren’t saying right now?
Oli (my brother who is the other guitarist) has been going on about ecstatic truth.
It’s something that our favourite filmmaker Werner Herzog talks about. ‘Ecstatic Truth’ is what we want to capture in our music, since we feel it encapsulates what we want to do. It’s not something you come by every day.
Q: Do you feel like the current industry gives small bands a fair shot?
What’s your experience?
I don’t think so at all, and I can definitely say that for us collectively. We have been really lucky in our journey, and we’re so thankful to everybody who has supported us so far.
But lots of other people don’t get the same opportunities we have. Having a thriving community of Welsh musicians is amazing, and there are plenty of schemes that have funded our music videos and releases. That being said, in terms of English arts funding: it seems pretty negligible.
So one thing I’d say is that if you are from Wales, you’re VERY lucky because people are willing to help out emerging artists. You’re also lucky because Cymru is the best.