It’s hard to talk about Neutral Milk Hotel without being cliché. They are one of the most iconic indie bands in the world that have received much praise over the past 20 years and also much contempt. But I think people who say, “what’s the big deal?” have missed out. Sure they listened to a few songs from them, but they got nothing out of it and that makes me sad. They thought they were listening to a loud voiced singer screeching at the top of his lungs while heavy trumpets and synths were mashed together with no sense of direction. I hear just the opposite. If you have never listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in one sitting, DO IT! Take 40 minutes out of your day and listen to the whole thing in one go. (Forward: Just know that it is a concept album about Anne Frank from WWII. That’s enough info for you to better understand the songs) Absorb the lyrics and music as a whole. You may not know it, but something will change in you.
If you already love NMH, then go read this book. It is a very short biography(-ish) about the album, band, and Jeff Mangum. It’s about how they started, where they’ve been, and how he writes what he writes. It is all extremely interesting to hear this story. So read it. Also, listen to On Avery Island if you haven’t.
Ok that’s all. I have now done my duty as a devoted fan.
That book is what made Neutral Milk Hotel my favorite band. I was a fan before, but I didn’t really understand how to interpret the songs. At face value, the songs are these surrealistic pastiches of disparate dreamlike images. You can tell that there’s some dramatic, very emotional stuff going on because of the power with which Jeff Mangum sings and just because many of the lines that Jeff Mangum says are powerful in and of themselves (“Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all” being the most profound and oft-quoted example). It wasn’t until I read that book and learned the stories behind the imagery in Neutral Milk Hotel’s songs that I fully appreciated their genius and sincerely realized that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the greatest work of art ever produced by human civilization.
I do disagree with one thing the above post said. Aeroplane is not a concept album about Anne Frank. Not completely. (And I thought that the book made it clear.) She does make multiple appearances in the lyrics, but not in every song. I think of Aeroplane as being more about life in general and the wondrous beauty and arduous pain that simultaneously exist in our lives. Anne Frank is but one of a cast of rotating characters on the album. Really, the best way to approach the album is to keep in mind that the imagery in Aeroplane is like a surrealist dream, and that like in dreams, the settings and character points of view can change without warning. One example is “Holland, 1945”, which starts off being about Anne Frank and how she reincarnates as a boy after her death in the Holocaust, but switches POVs in the second verse to a “dark brother” who died by committing suicide and refuses to reincarnate himself (the “dark brother” being a reference to the brother of one of Jeff Mangum’s friends who killed himself with a shotgun blast to the head).
Aeroplane is incredible, and it deserves to be studied in every English class and music class in the English-speaking world. (Of course, I hope it doesn’t because that would limit its appeal to new listeners if they’re forced to study it.)
Anyway, do what the above poster said. Listen to NMH, and if you haven’t read the book by Kim Cooper already, do so immediately. (It’s a very light read and I easily finished it in less than a day.)
