Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Release Date: 1998 | Tracklist

Human beings auditory perceptions are complex. The sense itself serves one key function; to alert the person of danger. At least that was the initial necessity when we spent our time running from predators. Now, and for as long as memory recollects - and further - it has developed much more emotional and spiritual... capabilities; not only does sound, and the formation of music, fulfill some innate need to experience something/anything via our external sense's, it also allows us to escape from both the mundane and gargantuan as we connect with its meaning, its core. With this evolutionary step, as well as the countless others, there has arisen certain moments in a persons life in which they need, NEED a soundtrack or sedative or stimulant or whatever it may be. "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" serves all of these purposes for me, as well as moves me quite unlike any other album or single piece of music.
which I have had the pleasure of digesting
By now we are past the point of explaining why this album is as phenomenal as it is; not only does the music and lyrics speak for themselves, but its legacy still reverberates through the recent history of pop, rock, folk and even some experimental music. Something happens when this album is allowed to spin. Jeff Mangums finest moment, as well as swan song, brings me to tears of elation and depression. Throughout movements including the simplistic strummed guitar of the title track - which is accompanied by weeping saw's - and the heart touching/breaking line "How strange it is to be anything at all", to the driving pace of "Holland, 1945" with its simultanious surreal, hopeful, sombre and spiritualistic lyrics; "The only girl I ever loved was born with roses in her eyes, but then they buried her alive one evening, 1945... Now she's a little boy in Spain playing pianos filled with flame" exploring not only, in my opinion, reincarnation, but the pace of death, how it can strike at seemingly any monet, whilst at the same time feel so specific.
With the mention of mortality comes one of the main reasons this album hits me every time I fill my ears or room with its splendor; death is the only thing which is certain in a persons life. It is a sporadic, calculated, evil and a very rarely welcomed figure (contradictions come with the territory when moving into this subject) in everyones time on this earth, however over the course of my life it has been constant: both of my father's parents died before I was born (when he was nineteen, and 28 respectfully), he himself suffered a very, very rare blood disorder before his mother died which actually took his life for a few minutes as well as made him loose stones and have to learn to walk again. My mother is anorexic and epileptic, two conditions which are criminally misunderstood. Anorexia is a mental affliction which causes the persons self-view to become askewed (body dysmorphia) and means that that person literally starves themselves to death. This was at its peak when I was eight and my mother was given 6 weeks to live when she weighed less than I did at the time. Epilepsy is a condition which is often brought about by severe trauma to the brain and comes in various levels. My mother is a Gran-Mal sufferer which is the worst form of the condition, this means that she suffers from fits very regularly which can causes her numerous problems. Thankfully they are both alive and well, while I myself have been stabbed twice and a gun pulled on me once. These are not gratuitous revelations, but reasons... no they are actually accompaniments to my love for this album. Everything about its sonic and literary messages meet some other requirement in my, and I'm sure your, truth of self. This may seem hyperbolic, and it in fact is in a way. But when The final line of "Don't hate her when she gets up to leave" I suggest that you try to accurately sum up all of you experiences when it came to listening to this album. If you wish for a more analytical review of "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" there are many fantastic ones on this site, but for now just trust me when I say that this will entertain, intrigue, sadden, destroy, rebuild, amuse and overall connect with you.

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4.4 superb

Rank: #3 for 1998