Wann immer die drei Wörter Shout Out Louds zusammen erklingen, bekommt eine Vielzahl von Indiemusik-Liebhaber*innen ein ganz wohlig warmes und vertrautes Gefühl in der Bauchgegend. Denkt man schließlich an die Blütezeit des Indies der 00er-Jahre, sind vor allem diese schwedischen Indie-Rocker ganz unerlässlich, sowie prägend und kaum einer kann nicht aus dem Stehgreif lautstark zu mindestens einem der Songs (The Comeback, Please Please Please und mehr) aus dem Debüt der Band Howl Howl Gaff Gaff mitsingen. Mit ihrem neuen, sechsten Studioalbum House knüpft die in Stockholm lebende Band um Sänger Adam Olenius, Gitarrist Carl von Arbin, Bassist Ted Malmros und Keyboarderin Bebban Stenborg wieder an unsere nostalgische Gefühlswelt an. Zwar werden hier keine einfachen Themen angesprochen, sondern komplexe wie innere Unruhe, mentales Angespannt-Sein und das Älterwerden – doch soll das neue Werk letztendlich wieder ein hoffnungsvoller Zufluchtsort fernab von alltäglichen Verpflichtungen und Aufgaben sein. Wie ein “kleines Häuschen in deinem Kopf” beschreibt Olenius das neue Album somit ganz zutreffend. Der Shout Out Louds-Frontmann hat für uns ein Track by Track mit allen wissenswerten Infos zu House geschrieben!

1. As Far Away As Possible

Working title ”Sling O Long”. I wrote the guitar parts in Melbourne and loved the goth vibe. I have had the line ”cans and plastic bags” for a long time and started creating the lyric world around that. I wrote a lot of lyrics on the way home from rehearsals and from bars. Trying to put words on things I felt and saw around me. The ”ba ba ba ba” vocal hooks came from a jam for another song but I liked them and they gave the song layers..

2. High As A Kite

This song is the last one I wrote for the album. I’ve been playing around with the chord structure for a long time but the words and melodies came very quickly. Probably one of my fasters writing songs. The other voice you hear is Markus Krunegård – a big artist here in Sweden and a close friend. The idea with the drums fading in and out came from a live performance with did.

3. Mixed Up

This song is also from my Melbourne sessions. I recorded a demo of the song with Toby Dundas (drummer in The Temper Trap) but it changed a bit when we played the song back home. Björn Yttling (producer) and I re wrote the verses but I kept the Melbourne theme in the lyrics. It is about being in a dream. A place far away from home. Includes a Beck reference and a Cut Copy (dj) show.

4. My Companion

Working title ”GT” – not gin and tonic but a Swedish band called Gyllene Tider. The first riff (that we changed later) had the same vibe like that band. We always have weird working titles..This is my favorite song of the album. We had probably 10 different versions of it before we found the right one. It relies so much on the right energy. If we didn’t feel it we didn’t play it.  The guitar riff that is kind of the main thing in the song was written last and it was only the lyrics that drove the song forward. 

5. Sky And I

This one was first sung in Swedish. I had a verse I was singing over and over but I later went back to English. Later in the studio when Bebban laid down her vocal part on top of mine (that she usually do) it sounded so fragile and pretty of having her singing by herself. The song has a sort of a nocturnal theme with someone driving around the city at night and it really worked well with Bebbans higher octave. Carl came up with the keyboard arpeggio that drives the song forward. 

6. June

The least favorite song of the album if you ask the others in the band ha ha…but Björn liked it and forced me to have it on the album. I saw this documentary about a homeless couple that struggled with drug addiction and hung around in the subway here in Stockholm, They used special calling sounds when they called each other. Weird shouting sounds. One day in the subway I heard them shouting but I didn’t see them and started writing down some words. Later one of them passed away and I returned to the notes I made and finished the lyrics for the song. 

7. Multiply

This song started with me buying a new synth. A Juno 06A. It’s a small version of the older bigger ones. It was replaced by a guitar thing Carl and I played around with and was pretty much written on the day of the recording. I wanted the lyrics to feel like they was written by a drunk and a lier…

8. Sometimes Sometimes

Working title ”Trippel Hagge”. Hagge is a nickname for our Hagtröm guitars. And in this song we had 12 string Hagtröm playing through a Hagström amp = 3xHagström….makes no sense. I am really happy with the break in this song. We were looking for a Pet Shop Boys sounding piano (used a Mellotron) and I had the saxophone solo recorded for another song but luckily it worked for this part. It’s about hangovers and feeling left out. 

Shout Out Louds – Tour:
19.06. Hamburg – Gruenspan
20.06. Berlin – Festsaal Kreuzberg
21.06. Köln – Gloria
22.06. Darmstadt – Centralsation
23.06. München – Freiheitshalle
25.06. Dresden – Beatpol
26.06. Hannover – MusikZentrum