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Valley
Advocate - October 25, 2001 HENNING OHLENBUSCH - Henning's School for the Dead Three and a half stars. This album's retro sensibilities and comfortable pop songwriting invoke a melancholy past. At first it's hard to say just what strange brand of nostalgia you're being dealt. Ohlenbusch, bassist for the Aloha Steamtrain, employs clear, reverb-y guitars, goofy keyboards and the occasional horn- or string-like swell to accompany his unassuming, slightly nasal vocals (doubled and echoey, '60s style). It all seems oddly familiar; when it's 3 a.m. and you've watched enough discount mattress ads and '50s sci-fi, things do get a little hazy, and Ohlenbusch seems intent on bringing about that very haze. At its finest, Henning's School for the Dead does just that with clever imagery and arrangements that prove that Ohlenbusch has a Beatles record or two. "V66" directly invokes that TV nostalgia, and "Soup of the Moment" addresses the ordinary with engaging turns of phrase. On the other hand, when
dealing in melancholy pop, there's the ever-present danger of becoming
cloying, even annoying. At a few points, the album approaches that
danger zone, with, for instance, layers of high-pitched backup vocals
riding atop upbeat '20s-style guitar jangle. Those moments are, happily,
the exception. It may be an expected set of sounds, but when Ohlenbusch's
earnest vocals and smart lyrics are attached, this album adds up to
more than just an exercise in nostalgia. (Rub Wrongways Records)
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