kurzweil-ICH: Shout Out Louds

Am 22. September erscheint mit „Ease My Mind“ (Partnerlink) das neue Album der Shout Out Louds. Mit Sängerin und Keyboarderin Bebban Stenborg habe ich über die neue Platte gesprochen und sie erzählt über die Hoffnungslosigkeit der Weltlage, einen skandinavischen Release-Party-Overload und den Label-Wechsel der Band. Ganz nebenbei hat sie auch noch die bislang beste Tätigkeit gegen Langeweile parat. Yay her!

Shout Out Louds Interview

Maik: On a recent press visit to Berlin you got to eat “Käsekuchenshots” – did you become a fan?

Bebban: Not really, they were a little too much on the sweet side for my taste. But we all love trying weird specialities, so bring it on Germany!

It has been over four years since “Optica” – how have you been?

We’ve been good, thanks! Babies were born, side projects finished, and the years just went by really quickly. We’re super excited to be back though.

This was the longest time between two releases done by you as band and you were focusing on families and other projects. Was this period of time planned upfront or did everything else just made THAT much fun so it took you a little longer?

Like I said, the years just went by really quickly! We didn’t plan for this long a break, we never do. We always think we’ll be faster to release the next thing, but there are so many other things that need their place in our lives too. We’re just a little sorry to make people wait for us, but I guess we like to take our time to reboot, and I think it’s probably good for the outcome. We don’t want to release anything half-assed.

In autumn your fifth record will be out – what can we expect?

I know everyone says it but I’m serious – this is our best one yet. I genuinely think so.

Why did you chose the title “Ease My Mind” for it?

We have all been feeling a bit hopeless about the state of the world, for quite a while now. We were talking about how to deal with feelings of worry and despair, and ended up talking about those very brief things, not solutions to problems but any small way of taking a break from it. How it’s a luxury, to be in the position to be able to do that. Just as it is a luxury to be making music, immersing yourself in something creative and joyful in the middle of all this darkness. To us, music is a form of antidote, and we feel very lucky for it. Ease My Mind is to some extent about any little way you can find to stop yourself from feeling petrified with fear or hopelessness. For good and for bad.

How are you going to spend your release day?

We are so bad at celebration when it’s expected of us. We’re probably all just going to sit in front of our computers googling ourselves, and then the next time we see each other go for a beer and end up staying out all night. There has also kind of been a bit of an inflation in things like release events over here, people are tired of them. Sometimes it seems like an artist can’t even release a fart without throwing a party for it.

You said that the first single “Oh Oh” was something like a starting point for the new record. Can you explain to us why the track has become so special for you?

Mainly because we sent it to the guy who ended up producing most of the album, just to see what he was about. And he came back with something we all really loved, so it was literally the starting point for the album.

A thing that did change is your label. The new record will be published with Sony Music. How did it come to the change and what differences does the new setting make when it comes to release a new album?

I think that it was simply a matter of us not doing as well enough financially for our previous label to want to keep working with us. We’re super excited to have Sony pick up the baton, they have been really great so far. In all honesty it seems to me like the label itself doesn’t make all that much of a difference, it’s all about the people you work with. If they’re passionate, fun and reasonably soulful we’re in.

You produced the record in a little basement studio in Stockholm, together with Fredrik Swahn who did make you “even better friends”. How did he manage that?

He is just such a joy to be around, you can’t help but liking everything and everyone a little bit more when he’s in the room.

Can you explain the process how you end up with the 11 songs in the final tracklist?

Well, we actually recorded a few songs with our previous producer last summer. I’m not entirely sure why, because they were good and when I listen to them now I like them a lot, but we didn’t feel great about them afterwards. I think that feeling caught us a little off guard, and we sort of didn’t even want to talk about it for a while after. But then we decided to go out to Adam’s cabin in the countryside, to write. To hang out, rediscover each other. That ended up being a really great thing, we treated ourselves to good food, a sauna here and there, and all music in between. We reworked some of the old songs and wrote new ones, it was suddenly much more effortless than before. And the ones that ended up on the album were the best ones, simple as that.

My favourite track (for now) is “Angel” with this scattering guitar and nearly industrial sound at the beginning. Do you have favourites throughout the band you fought (or fight) for?

I’m SO glad you like „Angel“, it’s one of my favourites too! And that was actually one we didn’t all agree on. When we had made the tracklist we found out that we could only fit ten songs on the vinyl. It became a battle between „Angel“ and „No Logic“, and „Angel“ lost, booo! But I think we’re going to release it separately on a 7-inch, maybe with some cool artwork and another unreleased track, so it will be alright. Oh and Adam and I are also really into „White Suzuki“, it’s dope.

Always my last question – based on the website being called „LangweileDich.net“ („BeBored.not“): What do you do when you feel bored?

You know what, this is just me (Bebban), but I go into racist or sexist commentary sections for newspaper- or magazine articles and cordially lecture people on how to be a well informed, source critical and basically decent human being. Yay me.

Thanks for the interview.

Thank you back!

Shout Out Louds Tour 2017

16 Sept Darmstadt {DE} | Golden Leaves Festival
4 Oct Vienna {AT} | Wuk
5 Oct Graz {AT} | PPC
6 Oct Salzburg {AT} | Rockhouse
7 Oct Winterthur {SZ} | Salzhaus
9 Oct Munich {DE} | Muffathalle
10 Oct Erlangen {DE} | E-Werk
11 Oct Leipzig {DE} | Täubchenthal
12 Oct Cologne {DE} | Live Music Hall
13 Oct Hamburg {DE} | Uebel & Gefaehrlich
14 Oct Berlin {DE} | Astra Kulturhaus