After decades of writing and recording songs that span the worlds of anti-folk, pop, psychedelia, and general introspection, Henning Ohlenbusch now presents Almost Always Overwhelmed, a full-length album both refreshing and familiar, a return to form from one of indie music’s strangely unknown and quietly bemused songwriters.

For years, in an orange-leafed little corner of Western Massachusetts, Henning has been crafting a personal catalog of music both under his own name and with his band Gentle Hen (previously School for the Dead). His albums have long been celebrated by those in the know for their personal and insightful spirit. Will the rest of the world catch up now after this collection? Probably not.

While his last few releases followed unified themes and moods, Almost Always Overwhelmed plays like a carefully sequenced mixtape where shifting styles are bound together by Henning’s friendly familiar voice, full of empathy and a wry sense of wonder. The title, Ohlenbusch explains, came from a lyric that seemed to sum things up: “That’s you / that’s me / almost always overwhelmed / by anything / by everything / we see.”

“I love an album that follows a cohesive mood or sound. But I also love albums that are all over the place. I grew up on the White Album and Nilsson Schmilsson and that’s how I used to make records. Each song is its own person and they should act however they want.”

This is certainly true on Almost Always Overwhelmed. Note for example the finger-pick plaintive singer/songwriterly That’s Where We Belong and Different Pillows Hold Different Dreams or the synth pop sounds of Fairytale in Reverse and Homesick at Home or the 13 minute long psychedelic dream-dirge of We Are All Around You. All ten songs exist on their own and also fit in perfectly with the others. A family, comfortable together but Almost Always Overwhelmed.

For years I've wanted to make a spare acoustic record. I've tried a number of times but because I am so enamored with the process of adding-more-stuff, I've always failed. Even back when I used to record everything with a cassette 4-track, I always had to bounce bounce bounce (that means add more tracks). My musical brain formed while listening intently to psychedelic, prog, new-wave, jangle rock, and singer-songwriter folk. It's very difficult to limit myself in the studio. But I managed to keep it all under 8 tracks with most songs having fewer.

I Want to Memorize Everything is nine songs long. It lasts about a half hour, just like the old Simon and Garfunkel albums that I memorized decades ago. It's my most vulnerable album. Because the instrumentation is limited, there is no place for my voice or my lyrics to hide. They're right out there for you to pick apart.

I think of it as a late autumn album, but I don’t know exactly why. A lot of music sounds like late autumn to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve always lived in New England where October bursts into colors and then November dulls everything into a grey and brown smudge, with pointy tree branches against cloudy skies. And that’s when we move inwards. Everybody starts drinking tea and writing novels about pilgrims, and listening to music that sounds like cracking pond-ice and crock pots.

I don’t want to go into detail explaining what each song is about. The interpretations are yours. I’m just so happy that you’re listening. Thank you.

-Henning

On April 15, 2018 Brian, Max, and I got together at Rub Wrongways Studios. We opened the curtain to let in the spring light so we could see the finally-winter’s-over green plants blossoming while we set up, tuned up, and started to tackle eleven new songs.

We hit the record button at 12:45 and didn’t stop until we made it through all the songs. A few of them we’d been playing a little bit at shows here and there, some of them Brian and Max had heard in demo form, and at least one of them they were introduced to just moments before recording.

It had been a wild and unsettling year since we finished up our previous album, Sneaking up on the Moon. The days had been flashing by in blurs of news stories, each more absurd and troubling than the last. Nights had been filled with concert-going and movies and binging tv shows and generally trying to keep some semblance of light and creativity in an increasingly cynical and upsetting atmosphere.

We dove into the songs like starving animals, giving in to the parts of our brains that thrive on creating and exploring and making sense of chaos. I’d written the eleven songs during this year of upheaval, there were no oldies being revisited. This was all new territory.

As it turns out, the songs fell into a few different genres of rock. It was unintended, I try not to plan too much. The songs know what they are supposed to sound like. The themes reflect the times. The overall push was a quest for kindness, a call for compassion and understanding. Thus the title of the record “Be Nice to Everyone”.

The listener might not find specifics in the lyrics to justify the album title, but I’m hoping that the overall feel of the collection is human, friendly, introspective, and caring. The songs themselves touch on various subjects. Snippets of lyrics jump out: it’s not wrong to long to belong | Jenny emulates a retro charm | the saddest part of town | you read the room wrong once again | the hours ignite in the clouds | grab the scissors, cut the string, and fly | lean, then catch your fall | the wind was like an uncle | they know better, they do worse | that was more than just a joke | arguments, there’s just no winning, the only way to end them is to not begin them.

Over the next few months, I added decorations and voices and snippets. Ken came in and plowed through a burst of inspired musicianship, painting with new colors, with perfect colors. Andrew Goulet set up his pedal steel and layered on a mournful sunset of sounds. We mixed things and then turned them over to Justin Pizzoferrato who deftly mixed them better. He passed the songs along to Mark Allen MIller who mastered them and made them ready so we could share them with whoever might want to listen.

I hope you enjoy this collection. I hope you feel the humanity in it, the rough edges, the sparkles of light, the personal weight.

​

-Henning Ohlenbusch

A selection of golden hits from The Aloha Steamtrain to celebrate their 20th anniversary. credits released December 2, 2016

Lord Russ - Guitars, Vocals, Mellotron, Percussion Henning Ohlenbusch - Bass, Vocals, Mellotron, Synthesizers Brian Marchese - Drums, Percussion Joe Boyle - (Tracks 7-16) - Guitars, Vocals Ken Maiuri (Tracks 11-17) - Mellotron, Keyboards, Vocals

Tracks 1-3 from Girl Planet (1997). Produced by The Aloha Steamtrain Recorded at Rub Wrongways Records Mastered at Monkeyhouse, Northampton, MA

Tracks 4-10 from Now You Know (2000) Produced by The Aloha Steamtrain and Thom Monahan Recorded at Slaughterhouse Studio and Rub Wrongways Records Mastered by Will Schillinger at Pilot Recording Studios, NYC

Tracks 11-16 from The Aloha Steamtrain (2002) Recorded by Frank Padellero at Brown Bag Studios and Lord Russ Productions Mastered by Frank Padellero

Track 17 Recorded live at The Baystate Hotel 12/31/2001

This collection was mastered by Mark Alan Miller at Sonelab, Easthampton, MA

2016 was a busy year for musician Henning. He’d just come off of touring with the band Polaris and it was time to release some new material. The band he plays lead guitar in, The Fawns, put out a record. His band, Gentle Hen, put out a new record of his songs. His alter ego, Turkey Andersen, released an EP of new family friendly songs. He produced and recorded a new album by Ray Mason. He released a single written about and for comedian Emo Philips. And finally, he released a new collection of songs under his own name.

Another Sleepless Nap is his latest in a long line of thoughtful, well-crafted, moving albums. Henning wrote, sang, played all the instruments, recorded, and produced the record. He even did the cover photography.

The nine songs on this record illustrate Henning’s ever maturing songwriting. The lead-off track “Untied States” is like a modern day take on the classic tune America by Simon and Garfunkel. It’s expression of isolation and disenfranchisement in lines like “We let the crazy people steal the conversation pit, there’s money to be made from a nation that’s been split” are countered with feelings of community and hope, “But we’re all in this together facing forward in our chairs, thinking only of mortality while hanging in the air.” It couldn’t have come at a more fitting time and is a soothing balm for this political climate. It was just voted #34 on WRSI’s songs of 2016!This album also provides a home for the much beloved single “Maybe I’m Not Meant to Do Anything Remarkable After All”, which was treated to a year-long multi-video project by local filmmaker Jason Mazzotta.

The other 7 songs on the record roller-coaster between stark piano ballads, poppy synthesizer pieces, and personal acoustic guitar driven numbers. There is no filler here.

Like everything in life, movies are experience differently by each viewer. On this record, I tried to express in music how these nine films impacted me personally/ at the outset, I established one rule. I was not allowed to revisit a film until I composed and recorded the song that it inspired me to write. In this way, I hope that each piece genuinely conveys the ways in which each movie has stuck with me throughout the years. I hope you enjoy the album.