Day 18: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Album cover courtesy of Merge Records

I have never knowingly listened to Neutral Milk Hotel. I needed to fix that immediately, lest the other online music dorks find out I’ve never heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea — admitting that you haven’t listened to it to a very specific type of hipster is one of the highest forms of insult within their culture. With Neutral Milk Hotel, there’s a sort of reverse Eminem situation going on – I find Eminem so annoying that I dislike his fans, but I think I’ve started disliking Neutral Milk Hotel because I find their fans so annoying. I made a conscious decision to leave my bias at the door and go into it with an open mind.

There’s a fair bit of lore attached to the record, where it was hoisted up to mythological status by fans who were trying to solve the mystery of what had happened to the band. After they found a bit of success, singer Jeff Mangum decided he wanted out of the spotlight, so they pretty much exited the public eye at the height of their fame. Fellow artist Bill Doss said it was because Mangum was creeped out by the attention:

Jeff's a very private person and kids were freaking out over him. [They'd] be following him around, these little packs of kids staring at him. It weirded him out in a way, and he just sorta backed off.

Incredibly relatable. The only time I’ve ever considered quitting writing was when something I wrote went a bit viral – I almost packed it in then and there. And somehow, it’s easier for me to enjoy the album knowing that the singer of the band also found the overzealous Neutral Milk Hotel fans a little bit off-putting.

I realise I have heard some of their music before, specifically the song “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, and I don’t hate it. I like the general soft, fuzzy recorded-in-a-basement vibe of the album.  You really need to listen to the lyrics to fully appreciate it. It's not something you can listen to very casually. Musically, it’s definitely a bold choice to do an album inspired by the diary of Anne Frank, but it works. “Holland, 1945” is a great song, and I love “Two-Headed Boy” and “Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2”.

I’m not too into indie at the moment, but I like the album more than expected. Maybe I chose this album today because the Anne Frank thing was buried somewhere deep in my brain, since I just finished re-reading The Diary of a Young Girl today, but by saying that, I’m probably overegging my knowledge of Neutral Milk Hotel. I think it was probably just a coincidence. It’s a 7.5/10 for me, right on the edge of an 8 but not quite there.