In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

...present and shining brightly here in Neutral Milk Hotel's second (and finest) album - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998. Even now, 9 years later, it's impractical to describe the album's feel and mood through a single word or phrase. One that is applicable, however, is that it is a very personal album (Jeff Mangum had several vivid inspirations for the tracks he produced, as explained below). Nevertheless, this isn't a self-indulgent ...
...small, 'lo-fi' indie band, originating in Georgia, Athens (where R.E.M., The B-52's and Pylon all formed and found success), created Jeff Mangum and his school friends. Although the band received little recognition, they were a founding member of the Elephant Six Recording Company (which has since dissolved), a collective of small indie bands, many of whom achieved cult status. Neutral Milk Hotel produced their first album 'On Avery Island' in 1996, ... more

I'll be the first to put my hand up and say that I am incredibly fussy when it comes to music. For me to like a song (in very general terms) it has to be well-written, with lyrics that take time to work out and make me think a little. Originality is a good factor too. Albums can be fantastic if they are produced correctly; that is to say, they have a certain coherence of mood, where each track sounds different but the whole thing feels like a group effort and flows well. I always find that deep, well-thought lyrics can enhance an album's lifespan endlessly. Luckily, all of these factors are present and shining brightly here in Neutral Milk Hotel's second (and finest) album - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998. Even now, 9 years later, it's impractical to describe the album's feel and mood through a single word or phrase. One that is applicable, however, is that it is a very personal album (Jeff Mangum had several vivid inspirations for the tracks he produced, as explained below). Nevertheless, this isn't a self-indulgent personal anguish album; rather, it's a collection of images, memories of memories, distant, pressing dreams, all lavishly brought to life by Mangum's wondrous, passionate vocals.

History
Neutral Milk Hotel were a fairly small, 'lo-fi' indie band, originating in Georgia, Athens (where R.E.M., The B-52's and Pylon all formed and found success), created Jeff Mangum and his school friends. Although the band received little recognition, they were a founding member of the Elephant Six Recording Company (which has since dissolved), a collective of small indie bands, many of whom achieved cult status. Neutral Milk Hotel produced their first album 'On Avery Island' in 1996, releasing it in the same year. Though it received positive reviews, it did nothing to help Neutral Milk Hotel progress anything beyond promising cult indie band. Their second and final album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, is the album in question; taking a step further than On Avery Island, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea received outstanding reviews and has been hailed as a cult classic.

Music style
'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' could possibly be the oddest and saddest album I have ever heard. Classifying it seems trivial, so timeless and unusual the album is. Delving into the album's lyrics, 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' can be viewed as a concept album about the beauty that can be found in the horrific fate of Anne Frank and other tragedies such as hers. In an interview, vocalist and central lyricist Jeff Mangum stated that he read the published version of Frank's diary and found himself overwhelmed with sadness and despair for the young girl, and others who suffered a similar fate during the Second World War. Around the time of production of the album itself, Mangum stated that many lyrics for his songs were inspired by urgent, recurring dreams he had of a Jewish family during the Second World War. This evidently explains the obsession about death, the War and Anne Frank (or rather, loving someone who is deceased) that flourishes on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
Musically, the album is a roller coaster ride through European music from the early 1950's onwards - everything from singing saws to slide guitars are used frequently and to excellent effect on this album, and the fact that such a wide range of instruments are used gives the album a unique, bold feel. It certainly does differ from the standard guitar/base/drums set up that is so frequent in bands in the U.K. and America. However, unadulterated acoustic guitar is usually the base of the songs on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Finally, the album has an unusual and endearing habit of letting one song run onto the next; for example, the low scat singing found at the end of 'Two-Headed Boy' (track 4) continue onto the beginning of track 5, 'The Fool'. This not only ensures that the album flows well, but also makes the listener more eager to listen to several songs right through rather than just skip to their favourite track.
Throughout the album, Jeff Mangum's singing is not only impeccable, but also memorable and inspiring. Mangum sings as if possessed, convinced of what he's trying to say, producing an endless riddle through his lyrics, one that begs to be deciphered. In 'Two-Headed Boy', Mangum sings straight from the heart, desperately trying to connect with the lifelike characters in his songs ("Two-headed boy, there's no reason to grieve/The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves/left beneath Christmas trees in the snow"). His voice channels the anger, sorrow and despair about the tragedies that plague his singing, but at the same time, pummel home the sheer joy of existence. No better an example can be found than in track 3, the eponymous 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea'. The album's title song discusses death and the sheer joy of life itself ("Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all" cries Mangum in the song's last line). Nonetheless, the album's most affecting songs are those that discuss the past and its inevitable consequences on the future. The first words of the album's first track are 'When you were young…' (the start of the first line of 'The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1'), and this reflects just how important youth is in this album. Mangum's vocal and lyrical style depend much on the child-like, innocent, hazy memories that he conjures so often, most notably in the opening three tracks or so. Here, Mangum discusses the role of parents to children, the wonderment of religion to a child and the feeling of death being far, far away. More obscurely, he touches on sex and its peculiar, unfamiliar nature. Whilst never descending to immature descriptions of intercourse, Mangum talks about how someone's first sexual experience can be painful and uncomfortable, and how love should be expressed in a million different ways rather than just sex (this is a strong element of track three 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea', 'Two Headed Boy' and 'Oh Comely'). The album combines these elements superbly around midway through its 42 minute duration, from tracks six to eight. 'Holland, 1945' is the most brutal (and obvious) dissection of Anne Frank and the Second World War as a whole, particularly the resistance movements in Nazi Germany ('The only girl I've ever loved/Was born with roses in her eyes', possibly an allusion to Anne Frank and the White Rose opposition to Nazi governance in Germany, 1943). This song, more than any other, reveals the full extent of Mangum's lament for the dead. 'Holland, 1945' is definitely one of the more endearing and accessible songs on the album. Continuing straight on from that is 'Communist Daughter', a short, soft song about confusion about sex and sexual symbols ('Semen stains, the mountain tops'), and the loneliness of growing up; again, the imagery is first class from Mangum. This follows straight through to the centrepiece of the album - the wonderful, kaleidoscopic 'Oh, Comely'. Clocking in at over eight minutes, 'Oh, Comely' runs the risk of being too stretched out and suffering as a consequence; it stands as a testament to Mangum's song writing ability that it does not. Sounding like a cross between a religious hymn and a battle chant, Mangum hits a true high with this one. Meandering through the issues of old age ('I will be with you when you lose your breath'), sexual affairs ('Your father made foetuses/With flesh licking ladies/While you and your mother were/Asleep in the trailer park'), the holocaust ('I know they buried her/Body with others her/Sister and mother and/Five hundred families'), Anne Frank ('Will she remember me?/Fifty years later, I wish I could save her/In some sort of time machine') and the War in general, punctuated by a strong acoustic guitar, brass instruments and (of course) Mangum's haunting, possessed voice, saying that 'Oh, Comely' is unforgettable would be an understatement.
Nevertheless, the album isn't perfect. It does run out of steam somewhat after 'Oh, Comely' (but does finish strongly with the elegiac 'Two Headed Boy Part 2') and unfortunately some folk will find the album rather inaccessible to the more, say, casual listener. Nevertheless, 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' kicks off with its most accessible and simplest song, 'The King of Carrot Flowers (Part 1)', which eases in the listener rather than throwing them in at the deep end with, say, 'Ghost' (track nine). A stripped-down acoustic affair, 'The King of Carrot Flowers (Part 1)' tells the tail of a dysfunctional yet close-knit family, possibly from the past ('And your mum would drink until she was no longer speaking/And dad would dream of all the different ways to die'). Listener-friendly though the song is, it also possesses a fairly deep undertone, and sets the pace of all the album's themes in two minutes flat. Secondly, 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' isn't exactly an album for all the family - the images of sex and death won't be to everyone's tastes. Thirdly, it's probably a good idea to listen to the album (or several songs without pause) rather than listen to a favourite track. This is because 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' isn't a singles album; that is to say, it doesn't possess songs with immediately identifiable patters such as refrains or choruses, and some songs will seem pointless when listened to solitarily (for example, 'The King of Carrot Flowers (Part 2 &3)' and 'The Fool') but really add something to the album when listened to as a whole.
Again, I'd like to re-iterate that whilst this is an intriguing and unusual album, people who are 'casual' listeners or like genres such as pop or R'n'B will probably be left guessing.. That isn't meant to be an attack against people who listen to these genres - but the album is unlikely to appeal to people who prefer those genres, not because it is too smart for them, but because it is so unlike these genres and borders on foreign language in terms of accessibility. For these reasons, I can't really give 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' a 5 star rating, but it would seem flippant to award a 4/5. Nonetheless, I don't want to degrade the 5 star rating by awarding it easily, so officially I shall award it a 4/5, unofficially a 4.5/5. The album can be quite pricey considering its age, and can become fairly expensive as it is quite rare. However, don't expect to pay more than £8 or £9 for it, especially if it is second hand.

Nevertheless, if you can get past these obstacles, there lies an endlessly intriguing album that challenges the way conventional music is produced and invents a unique style of its own that is not only endearing but also lasting. The album's choice of topics (discussed above) make for difficult songs to write (let alone make into songs that are excellent to listen to repeatedly) and yet Mangum and his band pull off this outstanding feat with seeming ease. Nostalgia, death, sex, youth, war, the Holocaust and much, much more are amply covered by Mangum's avid storytelling. Finding an album with all this to offer is not only rare, but also an excellent feat by a seemingly amateur band that raised the bar for all indie music at the time, and created a niche genre of which it is the premier example of, and is yet to be surpassed. In fact, an album of such grace and challenging complexity deserves high praise indeed; the reality that the album sold little more than 100,000 copies is a tragedy worthy of Mangum's superb songwriting.

Below is the tracklisting, with (for continuity with my other album review's sake) ratings of the songs. This is a little trivial and shouldn't be used to rate the album on.

1: The King of Carrot Flowers (Part 1) - 3.5/5
2: The King of Carrot Flowers (Parts 2 & 3) - 3/5
3: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - 4.5/5
4: Two-Headed Boy 4.5/5
5: The Fool - 3/5
6: Holland, 1945 - 4/5
7: Communist Daughter - 3.5/5
8: Oh, Comely - 5/5
9: Ghost - 3.5/5
10: Untitled - 3/5
11: Two Headed Boy (Part 2) - 4/5

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
8.9/10

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