The New Mourning

The concept of The New Mourning began while Thomas Pronai was touring Germany (2018) as drummer in Pete Astor’s band (The Weather Prophets, The Loft) alongside James Hoare (Veronica Falls, The Proper Ornaments) and Rose Keeler-Schäffeler (Keel Her, Tim Burgess). The experience of a real live band, playing simple, reduced rock ‘n’ roll songs without any frills and furbelows, inspired Pronai to recreate that very feeling on tape. Three months later he found himself in London laying the tracks for two new songs onto Hoare’s Studer 16-track tape machine for the band’s debut single (Who’d Stop The Sun, Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten KUS22, 7” vinyl).

Following their debut single, The New Mourning toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland, pausing only for two days to lay backing tracks for their first long player onto an eight-track tape recorder at Pronai’s studio.

The work on the album was completed in January 2020, but due to the pandemic When The Light Fades (Noise Appeal Records, noise123 LP) didn’t see the light of day until May 2022.

In January 2024 the band gathered once more in Pronai’s studio to start recording the second album. Two years of live shows have sharpened the sound. The Bass VI is ever more central to the sound, transforming The New Mourning into a three guitar band, creating a very unique “wall of guitars”.