The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel
March 6 | Written By Danielle Champ
If ever the indie world needed a blast from the past, it would be this: The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel, an archival project released on February 24th through Merge Records. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the psychedelic indie project’s first EP, Everything Is. In commemoration of the event, frontman Jeff Magnum, is laying all his cards on the table, reminding us of what made his work a hidden gem for the music industry in the first place. In this box set, listeners will hear the band’s complete recorded output, with additional material from unreleased EPs, live tracks, alternate takes, and demos. Should this be the first encounter music lovers have with the curiously named band, they should be ready to buckle their belts.
Described by Magnum as ‘fuzz-folk’, the project was one of the primary outgrowths of a clan of lo-fi indie groups, known as Elephant 6 Recording Company collective, with a journey that dates back to their 80s high school days.
Neutral Milk Hotel first took shape in 1989 when a sonic-outlying trio, consisting of Magnum, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, first played at a local laundromat. Although the trio put in a good shift, Magnum made his own way, and found himself in New York where he released his first full length album, On Avery, in 1996. No more than a year later did he release In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, a record that became one of the underground’s most iconic creations.
Take Aeroplane for example, an 11-track dive into Magnum’s fragmented psyche. His exploration of sexuality, morality, and the diary of Anne Frank in songs like ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’, where simple guitar strums and trumpet sounds platform the best of Magnum’s writing, is simultaneously uncomfortable and intriguing. Perhaps this is why it has remained an indie favourite, outlasting many production trends and falls that have plagued indie folk over the last three decades.
But first, Everything Is. This month, Magnum shared the first instalment to the Collected Works to celebrate the beginning of the music career he allegedly loathed. Although initially an EP, Magnum has packed the work with unreleased songs such as ‘Here We Are (For W. Cullen Hart),’ ‘Unborn,’ and ‘Interlude,’. In this EP, fans will hear what Magnum was notorious for: distorted production. Wrapped together with simple guitar acoustics and very little instrumentation, the album is the epitome of Magnum’s experimentation and surrealist lyricism. One point is critical to understanding Neutral Milk Hotel: the sound quality is intentionally horrific. Using fuzz guitars, and Magnum’s nasal monotone vocals, the project’s sound is uniquely unnerving. Imagine if Salvador Dali were to direct a film based on Soviet Russia, well, Jeff Magnum would likely be the music executive.
When you arrive at On Avery Island, which is more of the same, it becomes clear from where the exceptionalism that led to Aeroplane originated. With revving guitars, obscure percussion accompaniments, repetitive melodies and spontaneous trumpets, experiencing the albums back-to-back illuminates the vision that Magnum wanted to achieve. Although when compared to its successor, Avery is less of an interconnected work, it still carries the tinny bizarreness that makes Magnum’s sound so rare. Some may argue that the band was simply a product of the time, and that there was nothing breathtakingly extraordinary about their music. However, Magnum’s work has weaved together a discography that has become a timeless addition to indie playlists everywhere, making Collected Works an unparalleled project. The entirety of this box set affords us an encyclopedic look at one of the 90’s most fascinating indie songwriters. For this critic, he is one that will be returned for many, many decades.
