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Oct 27, 2017 By Mark Redfern Web Exclusive

To end out the week, we ask Bebban Stenborg, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist of Shout Out Louds, some questions about endings and death. The Swedish band released their latest album, Ease My Mind, last month via Merge. The album, the band’s fifth, is another deliriously fun collection of irresistible indie-pop tunes. It includes “Paola,” a song that blows the cover on Stenborg’s birth name (and name on her passport), Paola, and was written by frontman Adam Olenius about her. The album’s first single and opening track, “Jumbo Jet,” was inspired by Olenius’ fear of flying (his coping mechanism was to learn everything he could about planes). Shout Out Louds formed in 2001, made an immediate impact with 2003’s debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, and have stayed strong ever since, releasing a new album every three to four years. The band’s current lineup also includes Carl von Arbin and Ted Malmros. Read on Stenborg talks about her favorite endings to movies, books, and albums, as well as her personal versions of heaven and hell and what she’d like her last words to be.

How would you like to die and what age would you like to be?

Bebban Stenborg: I would like to die unexpectedly and quietly in my sleep at around 90, but not if I get dementia or some other scary illness. I want to die before anyone has to help me take a shower, or read to me. It can happen, my grandma is 94, she’s on Instagram and she still reads and does pliés every morning.

What song would you like to be playing at your deathbed?

I think I’d rather not listen to music as I die, I’d like to be listening to a grandchild’s funny story about a pet or something.

What song would you like to be performed at your funeral and who would you like to sing it?

I used to want “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” by Nina Simone, but I think that’s almost cruel to the ones who will miss me, too sad. So “Que reste-t-il de nos amours?” by Charles Trenet. It would be nice if my friend Sibille Attar would sing it, she will be a really grand old lady when we’re old. And she’s French so I know she won’t mess it up.

What’s your favorite ending to a movie?

I loved the ending of Monster. Incredibly dark but so pretty. “‘Love conquers all.’ ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’ ‘Faith can move mountains.’ ‘Love will always find a way.’ ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ ‘Where there is life, there is hope.’ Oh, well… They gotta tell you somethin’.’”

What’s your favorite last line in a book?

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” From The Catcher in the Rye.

What’s your favorite series finale last ever episode of a TV show?

I hate final episodes. Hate, hate, hate them. They break my heart. The better they are the more I hate them. Can’t deal.

What’s your favorite last song on an album?

If only “A Case of You” had gotten to finish Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, but it’s the second to last one. I always skip “The Last Time I Saw Richard” and start it over from there.

What’s your favorite last album by a band who then broke up?

I loved Blackstar by David Bowie. So incredibly dignified.

What’s your favorite way a band broke up?

Gah, I don’t like when bands break up either. It’s always for some sad reason like the frontman wants to go solo or someone dies. But I think maybe The Mamas and the Papas were better off without each other.

Whose passing has most affected you?

This is weird but I have never lost anyone I loved, that I knew personally. It has become my absolute greatest fear, I realize that it’s bound to happen and I think about it every day. So I always go around knocking on wood and not touching this and that as to not jinx it. Even saying it out loud here makes me really nervous.

If you were on death row, what would you like your last meal to be?

My boyfriend actually finally nailed my style of eating just the other day, he called it “death row!” Because I like fancy stuff like lobster and oysters, and comfort food like hamburgers, fried chicken, and mashed potatoes, and am kind of indifferent to anything in-between. So all of that would be good, with a Coke and a glass of champagne.

What’s your concept of the afterlife?

I’m hoping for some type of bodiless eternal bliss. I don’t want to be reincarnated, I have had a good life and there is so much suffering everywhere, I don’t want to risk coming back as something terrible.

What would be your own personal version of heaven if it exists?

Warm weather, babies and toddlers everywhere, free Pizza Hut, and new seasons of Survivor and Game of Thrones every day.

What would be the worst punishment the devil could devise for you in hell, if he exists?

Having to say goodbye to someone I love forever, every day for all of eternity.

If reincarnation exists, who or what would you like to be reincarnated as?

A flat stone maybe? I’d get to be around forever and get thrown in some lake for someone’s enjoyment once every 100 years but not feel anything.

What role or achievement would you most like to be remembered for?

Having been a good person who passed down nothing but love and funny jokes.

What would you like your last words to be?

See you later darling.

Shout Out Louds 2017 Tour Dates:

Oct 30 Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
Oct 31 Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall
Nov 02 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
Nov 03 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Nov 04 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
Nov 05 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
Nov 06 Toronto, ON - Mod Club
Nov 07 Columbus, OH - The Basement
Nov 08 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
Nov 09 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line
Nov 12 Vancouver, BC - Venue Nightclub
Nov 13 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
Nov 14 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
Nov 15 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
Nov 17 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre
Nov 18 Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room

www.shoutoutlouds.com

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