listen up

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the most completely inspiring rock records I've ever heard...everytime I finish listening to it I feel like I've lived through something I'll never quite understand, something really big. Ben Reed Parry, The Arcade Fire



If there was ever an album to cement the case for buying/listening to records as albums, in order, from start to finish, without wanting or needing to press skip, shuffle or put a few choice tracks on a playlist, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is that album. No question.

I'd been enamoured with John Darnielle's spectacularly awkward cover of Two-Headed Boy for a while now, but the when I bought the re-issued album a few months ago I didn't really know what I was in for. I'm not sure I could have been prepared.

From the first strumming chords of The King of Carrot Flowers Part I to the final tortured lyrics of Two-Headed Boy Part II it's a little difficult to breathe. Jeff Magnum and Neutral Milk Hotel move through the most uncool of arrangements, subject matter and form, with special appearances by Anne Frank and her family, a brass band, an instrumental track, the awkwardness of puberty and, of course, communism. Why not.



As original members of the remarkable Elephant Six collective [along with Elf Power, the Essex Green and others] we're meant to expect something different, a little experimental and wistful and perhaps even nostalgic from NMH [above]. Aeroplane travels a dark turn through the human spirit, simple and sweet melodies masking gruesome and slightly disturbing lyrics. It's a trip you can't help but take too - and it's best taken lying on your bed with the blinds closed, trying to catch Magnum's lyrics through his mumbling and absorbing it all as a cycle, a narrative and a classically devestating tale.

Enjoy.

When I first started driving, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was the only cassette I had in my Ford Fiesta for two years. It is amazing. Friendships can be gauged on the mutual love of Neutral Milk Hotel. Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand