5. Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
Jeff Mangum, the songwriter/singer of Neutral Milk Hotel is somewhat of an interesting figure. After he released this album he became a recluse of some sorts. He'd randomally appear in some odd interview, on various Elephant 6 records and occasionally he'd play a show out of nowhere but that hasn't happened in a very long time. When reading the lyrics you really have to wonder about his mental state around the time, I know sometime after the release of the album he had a breakdown.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea really has odd lyrics, full of bizarre images about semen stained mountain tops and two headed boys. A lot of the messages and songs are all based around Anne Frank. I'd read her diary in middle school and it never really struck me as anything but I was also an 11 year old so I figured that nothing would've really struck me around that time. I later picked it up and it did make quite a few things much more clear (Holland, 1945 seems to taken on a new meaning after reading it) it still really didn't strike me. I had found it to be a very sad, slightly interesting but overall repetitive book. I still didn't understand why it was the basis of what I felt was the greatest album ever recorded. The more I got into the album the more I got into the book, I sort of read it to tatters but it was a cheap paperback so that wasn't hard. While i'm still not deeply in love with the book there was several themes it shared with In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and both seemed to have an undying hope though Aeroplane struck me as much more powerful.
I had been listening to a lot of stuff like Bright Eyes and the Microphones at the time but after hearing Neutral Milk Hotel those artists just paled in comparison. This album was just so much more than they could ever be to me. The music was beautiful but I was surprised to find out how simple the guitar parts were. They were just basic chord progressions, I'd learn to play the entire album. It was actually harder to memorize the lyrics, but that's not really surprising songs like Oh Comely are a lot to remember. But the simple chords really don't stand out, they blend well with the horn arrangements. One track I really want to highlight is Holland, 1945 which is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's kind of a black sheep because it's a fast faced song with a driving fuzzy bass. One day when I was driving around recently I was surprised by how amazing it sounded through my terrible terrible speakers. Maybe it's the fact the album is very lo-fi or more likely it's magic, I do not know.
I should probably wrap this one up. It's kind of hard to give a summarizing though on this album because I can express how I feel about it or how much it meant to me when I was very into the album. It was easily my favorite album for a little over half a year. For probably three of those months I'd listened to it everyday and there were times I'd shut myself up with a notebook and just put this album on. Jeff Mangum's voice was so powerful, it was nasally and at times too much but I loved it anyway. I was in a particularly bad place at the time and the themes and music were just so uplifting therapeutic. The lyrics were bizarre too, filled with allusions to Anne Frank, messed up dreams and little boys in Spain. A random fun fact is I had a dream where I had that tambourine from the album cover on my head, that was fun. The album was really the focus of my life for a bit and was the subject of many drug filled nights and was the solace I really needed. Like Anne Frank's Diary there's just this undeniable feeling of hope, though if you dig too much into that thought you're reminded she did die in a concentration camp which isn't happy. There are times when I would've called it the perfect album and while I wouldn't go that far nowadays if someone were to say it was perfect or the greatest album ever written I wouldn't argue. It's one of the most inspirational things I've ever experienced. I think an accurate summary of my exact feelings on this and a fitting one would be this quote from Anne Frank: "think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."
Favorite Songs: Two Headed Boy Part 2, Holland 1945, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1, Ghost
MySpace.com - Neutral Milk Hotel - US - Indie / Experimental / Folk - www.myspace.com/neutralmilkmotel