Shout Out Louds Go To Work

Swedish sensations Shout Out Louds are back and better than ever with their third album Work set to be released internationally this month. The Dwarf rang Carl Von Arbin to find out about the new tunes.

The five piece from Stockholm, consisting of Adam Olenius, Ted Malmros, Carl Von Arbin, Eric Edman and Bebban Stenborg, have delivered their magnum opus with Work being a fantastic summery wonderland of lush vocal harmonies and a stripped back aesthetic that truly showcases the band’s song writing strengths.

"It just felt like this is what we do, this is what we’re proud of. We’ve done three albums and it feels like this is really what we’re doing, kind of what we chose to do with our lives. This is our work. We really wanted to take away all the extra things that we have, and just have the foundation of bass, guitar and drums and play around with that. Not hide behind anything and have it be more about the band. To try and do it our way."

Work was produced by the great Phil Ek (Les Savy Fav, The Shins and Fleet Foxes) .

"We’ve never worked with him before. We kind of sat down and wrote out a list of people that we wanted to work with, and his name came up. We loved his early stuff a lot. He’s been around so long. We contacted him and it was kind of nice, we didn’t go through management or anything.

"We sent him an email and he replied straight away and that was it. We heard from other people that he’s a really sweet guy and nice to work with. He was very thorough and very precise. Like he really wanted to get the best out of everyone and have everyone performing at their highest level, which was sometimes frustrating, but he was very likeable."

Shout Out Louds formed back in 2001 and have spent the past nine years perfecting their unique brand of melodic and melancholic indie pop.

"Life in general inspires us to keep on going. We’re old friends and we’ve been together so long that you kind of know what everyone else in the band is going through and we feed off each other. It’s diverse every time. Mostly Adam writes the songs and everybody kind of adds to it. Sometimes you have an idea of a song and you bring it to the band and you tell the direction you want to take with it.

"Someone has an idea and everybody adds their instruments to it. The one who brings the songs has the director's role on that song. They’re like the conductor. As for my personal influences, my older brother was my music guide. I listened to a lot of Swedish groups.

"My first 7’’ was KLF. It kind of stands the test of time. I was very into the whole Manchester scene to, like Joy Division. I love Joy Division. It's funny with the bands you listen to at a certain age, they stick with you and form you and shape your taste in music. In good and bad ways. KLF was a good way."

From childhood friends to international stars, the band is stronger than ever and still getting along famously.

"Our relationship as a band is like any relationship. You can’t hold your fist in your pocket. If there’s something you don’t like you need to say it so it doesn’t grow on you. It's really hard sometimes to show each other respect and treat each other nicely. We’re pretty good, but sometimes you just have to forget about it and it becomes more like surviving. You need to take care of each other. Sometimes you forget about that."

Shout Out Louds are about to embark on a tour of Europe and the U.S to promote Work.

"We’re looking forward to our upcoming tour, but it can get exhausting. The space. That’s my least favourite thing. You have no space and you’re never alone. Sometimes you have to take a walk, it’s the only way to go. I love them all, but sometimes you just need to be alone. Its also important who you tour with because you become like a little travelling circus so it's good when you get along. It's more fun if you have a band that you like to hang out with. We always enjoy touring with The Concretes, Dogs for Dogs and The Magic Numbers."

Not that life on the road is all bad. Getting to travel the world with your best friends is something most of us dream of doing, as Von Arbin explains:

"The best moments on tour are when we go out for dinner. Every night the band goes out together and we go looking for a place to eat. We’re very particular about our food. Sometimes we go for very long walks, but the results are always good. We look for recommendations for good places. We like good food and good wine. Sometimes we feel like we’re on a Viking quest.

"When we’re on a European tour every country has their specialty, so we bring home good wine, good cheese, good sausages, like the best from every country and then we come home and have a big party. The most exciting place I’ve ever been to with the band is Japan.

"It's very different from Sweden. They have a lot of vending machines. It's like future world. You know when you were playing computer games when you were a kid, and the game had already been out for two years in Japan and you had to have an adaptor for it? It’s that way, it’s so different, like they’re ahead of the rest of us."

Australian fans will be pleased to know that Shout Out Louds hope to be back on our shores later this year.

"We’re hoping for sometime in September or October, but we’re not sure. Adam used to live in Australia for a bit. We really liked it down there. The first time I ever played tennis on grass was in Australia. There are no grass courts in Sweden. There is some good Australian music too. We had a remix made by Architecture in Helsinki years ago and I like The Avalanches. I like a lot of the older stuff from the 80s indie scene like The Chills. They’re a really good band with some good tunes."

Fortunately life isn’t all about work, but what exactly do Swedish rockers get up to when they’re taking time away from the limelight?

"Eric has more than 100 bottles of wine at home and I’m very fond of bike riding. I try and see all the bike races when I can. I really like watching Tour de France and stuff like that. We of course like to go and see live music. I was blown away when I saw Phoenix in December. They were great. The whole crowd went on stage. I snapped some photographs of it and I was looking at them the other day, it just looks like another time, the entire crowd went bananas. It was amazing and very inspiring to see. I saw them years ago at a festival back in 2003 I think. They were the last act on a small stage. Everyone else was off watching The Hives at the main stage, but I saw Phoenix and they were fantastic."

Shout Out Louds new single 'Fall Hard' is available now on ITunes and Work will be released in Australia on February 26th through Dew Process.

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