Music review: Check in to this Hotel

By Dibya Subedi
Cabell Midland High School

As a part of Elephant Six Collective, a recording company that produced notable 90s indie rock acts like Of Montreal, Apples in Stereo and Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel is a group of contributing musicians who came together under the guidance of singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum to produce music with a fantastic compilation of sound and meaning.

For anyone unfamiliar with the band’s imaginative indie folk sound, the most prominent feature will surely be Mangum’s strikingly powerful yet woeful voice. But beyond the vocals, all components of its second full-length album, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” prove equally powerful and haunting. In addition to Mangum, this 1998 release features Julian Koster on bass guitar, banjo and saws; Jeremy Barnes on drums and Scott Spillane on horns.

The lyrics range from expressive to explicit, and Mangum’s vocals become an instrument themselves as his voice reigns so powerful one moment and hushes to a lullaby the next in songs like “Two-Headed Boy.”

Mangum even alludes to World War II heroine Anne Frank in his lyrics. The song “Holland, 1945” uses powerful imagery to express her steadfast strive to live.

“The world just screams and falls apart, but now we must pack up every piece of the life we used to love just to keep ourselves at least enough to carry on,” he sings.

My favorite song is the album’s title track. Magnum sings of a love from long ago and awaits a meeting with her in the clouds, where, he sings, “I’ll be laughing out loud. I’ll be laughing with everyone I see. I can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all.”

The most endearing part of the song is that last line, which mentions with such casualness an awareness of the enigma that is life. It’s such a poignant thought that stays with you. That, to me, is the lyrical appeal of the album — it offers a range of open-ended thoughts that are incredibly earnest in nature.

Musically, the band uses a wide assortment of instruments. You’ll hear an accordion, uilleann pipes (a type of bagpipe) and various marching band instruments, including a trombone. These sounds all come together to form a complete creative experience. It’s all so cinematic and inexplicably enrapturing.

Neutral Milk Hotel was influenced by bands like The Zombies and The Beatles. In turn, they have served as an influence for many independent and experimental bands of today, including Animal Collective, Wolf Parade and The Arcade Fire.

I would recommend that all fans of art give this album a try and enjoy the fact that each song is an experience in itself.