Henning Ohlenbusch has more than just one of the most awesome names in contemporary music. He also now has a full-length album of songs inspired by movies. It's quite the spectrum, too -- Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Straight Story, Amélie, Joe Versus the Volcano, Logan's Run, Meatballs, The Year My Voice Broke, Superbad and, in an irresistible effort you can hear after the jump, a folk song inspired by that mellow, soothing cinematic bromide known as Poltergeist.
The songs are compiled on Ohlenbusch's new album Henning Goes to the Movies, which is out now. The "Poltergeist," uh, "video" dropped today (it's basically a Vegas water feature shot on and iPhone, but hey -- "Poltergeist"!), and don't be alarmed if it doesn't quite jibe with your impressions or remembrances of the 1982 horror masterpiece. That's kind of the point, according to the songwriter.
"Like everything in life, movies are experienced differently by each viewer," Ohlenbusch wrote in a statement just over the transom at ML HQ. "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. [...] It was important to me that each of these songs stands on its own merit. For most of them, the listener might have never even known what the inspiration was had the songs not been titled the way that they are."
Fair enough. You can find the album in its entirety at iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, and there are a few little gems tucked in there. I'm fond of "Superbad" -- ""It's a thought that's as jarring as the homeroom bells / The next time you see me, I might be someone else" -- but you tell me.