Album: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
No official videos of the band's songs exist online, and the live footage sounds awful, so I thought I'd post an online review of the album, partly to highlight the growth in online music criticism via YouTube channels. Anyway, back to my review. NMH's spirited approach to their music was at odds with the slacker ethos of many indie bands in the 90s, and this partly explains their success. They also tapped into teenage dreams and anxieties, in the same way that all good pop music does, and in this respect you can see how this album was a huge influence, in terms of sound and themes, on Arcade Fire's Funeral. The Decemberists and Beirut were also clearly inspired by the album. Opening song, King Of Carrot Flowers, underlines the album's appeal from the outset, with its transcendent melody, stunning arrangement and broad mix of styles. Some may point to it as the early seeds of freak folk, but anything that inspired Joanna Newsom is OK with me. Holland, 1945 is the song that's most obviously based on Anne Frank's diary ("But then they buried her alive / one evening, 1945 / with just her sister at her side / and only weeks before the guns / all came and rained on everyone"), and is one of the most emotionally powerful moments on the LP. Other highlights for me are the title track (that horn solo, wow), Two Headed Boy and Ghost, but in truth everything's great, and what In The Aeroplane Over The Sea shares with the best albums is its wonderful flow, making it impossible to imagine the songs being in any other order. Mangum poured everything he had into this record, which partly explains why he's never recorded another one since.
Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel
Born: Ruston, Louisiana
Released: February 1998
Genre: Indie Rock
Neutral Milk Hotel. It's not the best band name, is it? This is something my wife quite rightly pointed out when we stayed up to watch them headline on the last night of the 2014 Green Man festival. Bad name decisions aside, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea remains one of the most celebrated indie albums of recent decades, and rightly so. Seeing the adoration that a large group of fans have for this LP, as they sang along at full voice with Jeff Mangum at Green Man, was a potent sign of how deeply revered it still is today, almost two decades after the band first appeared on the scene. As part of the Elephant 6 collective, which numbers Apples In Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control (of which Mangum was a founding member) and of Montreal among its ranks, Neutral Milk Hotel helped to set up the short-lived Pet Sounds Studios in Denver, Colorado, where this album was recorded. The collective shared a love of 60s psychedelia, from Brian Wilson-era Beach Boys to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, while Mangum also introduced elements of lo-fi, folk and noise rock into Neutral Milk Hotel's unique sound. Horns, accordions and even bagpipes are at the heart of many of the album's folk songs, but this gypsy folk sound is enhanced by noisy guitars, lo-fi effects and surreal lyricism, creating a template that many indie acts have followed. The band's first album, On Avery Island (1996), had a similar, less accomplished version of this sound but lacked the unifying theme (historical evils, Anne Frank) that makes this LP such a compelling listen. That this album doesn't appear in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is one of the biggest oversights, among many, in the book.
Neutral Milk Hotel. It's not the best band name, is it? This is something my wife quite rightly pointed out when we stayed up to watch them headline on the last night of the 2014 Green Man festival. Bad name decisions aside, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea remains one of the most celebrated indie albums of recent decades, and rightly so. Seeing the adoration that a large group of fans have for this LP, as they sang along at full voice with Jeff Mangum at Green Man, was a potent sign of how deeply revered it still is today, almost two decades after the band first appeared on the scene. As part of the Elephant 6 collective, which numbers Apples In Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control (of which Mangum was a founding member) and of Montreal among its ranks, Neutral Milk Hotel helped to set up the short-lived Pet Sounds Studios in Denver, Colorado, where this album was recorded. The collective shared a love of 60s psychedelia, from Brian Wilson-era Beach Boys to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, while Mangum also introduced elements of lo-fi, folk and noise rock into Neutral Milk Hotel's unique sound. Horns, accordions and even bagpipes are at the heart of many of the album's folk songs, but this gypsy folk sound is enhanced by noisy guitars, lo-fi effects and surreal lyricism, creating a template that many indie acts have followed. The band's first album, On Avery Island (1996), had a similar, less accomplished version of this sound but lacked the unifying theme (historical evils, Anne Frank) that makes this LP such a compelling listen. That this album doesn't appear in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is one of the biggest oversights, among many, in the book.
No official videos of the band's songs exist online, and the live footage sounds awful, so I thought I'd post an online review of the album, partly to highlight the growth in online music criticism via YouTube channels. Anyway, back to my review. NMH's spirited approach to their music was at odds with the slacker ethos of many indie bands in the 90s, and this partly explains their success. They also tapped into teenage dreams and anxieties, in the same way that all good pop music does, and in this respect you can see how this album was a huge influence, in terms of sound and themes, on Arcade Fire's Funeral. The Decemberists and Beirut were also clearly inspired by the album. Opening song, King Of Carrot Flowers, underlines the album's appeal from the outset, with its transcendent melody, stunning arrangement and broad mix of styles. Some may point to it as the early seeds of freak folk, but anything that inspired Joanna Newsom is OK with me. Holland, 1945 is the song that's most obviously based on Anne Frank's diary ("But then they buried her alive / one evening, 1945 / with just her sister at her side / and only weeks before the guns / all came and rained on everyone"), and is one of the most emotionally powerful moments on the LP. Other highlights for me are the title track (that horn solo, wow), Two Headed Boy and Ghost, but in truth everything's great, and what In The Aeroplane Over The Sea shares with the best albums is its wonderful flow, making it impossible to imagine the songs being in any other order. Mangum poured everything he had into this record, which partly explains why he's never recorded another one since.
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