Origins
Jeff Mangum was a member of The Olivia Tremor Control, along with his friend Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, appearing on their first release, the California Demise 7".
Prior to recording for friends under the NMH moniker, Mangum recorded at least one cassette under the name Milk: the only known tape was called Pygmie Barn in E Minor. This is the earliest known recordings that Mangum initiated and executed himself, on the cover there is "all songs: j.m '89. art: w. cullen hart". There is only an estimated dozen or so copies ever made of this tape, none of which have been made public. The tracklist etc. are also unknown.
Neutral Milk Hotel began life in Ruston, Louisiana, United States in the early 1990s, simply as a recording project for Mangum. He produced several demo cassettes, among them 1991's Invent Yourself a Shortcake, 1992's Beauty and 1993's Hype City Soundtrack, along with two more from this period, seemingly unnamed. Although easily found on the internet, these demos capture the project at a very embryonic state: songs are played in between various sound collages and tape experiments, and even, at one point, a six minute conversation between Mangum and Hart.
During this period, Mangum was wandering the country, staying in the closets of friends, and in a state of permanent unemployment. It was in these circumstances that the band's first formal releases took shape. Strictly speaking, however, the 'band' usually consisted of Mangum and whoever else was present at the time. This is obvious on Neutral Milk Hotel's first release, a 7" entitled Everything Is, recorded when Mangum was spending time in Seattle, Washington, released on Cher Doll Records in 1994.
On Avery Island
A full album, On Avery Island, followed, this time recorded mainly in Denver, Colorado, where Mangum was backed by Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo, Rick Benjamin of the Perry Weissman Three and Lisa Janssen of Secret Square. Merge Records released it in 1996. On On Avery Island, Mangum's unique vocal style and the band's quirky but playful arrangements create a carnival atmosphere of moods ranging from excitement, suspense, and melodrama.
After the release of On Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel became a fully-fledged band, as Julian Koster, Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes joined Mangum, the band now being based in New York. Soon after this, they moved to Athens, Georgia, where many of Mangum's friends had begun to settle, and the Elephant 6 recording company began, fully, to take shape. After this, the band went back to Denver, to record a proper follow up to On Avery Island.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The band's second LP, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998, is notable as a critically acclaimed work and a widely popular recording. It is a spiritually motivated work, conceptually based on the beauty to be found in the horrific fate of Anne Frank and similarly overwhelming tragedies. (Mangum has, during live performances, including the one released under the title "Live at Jittery Joe's", described some of the songs off this album as based on urgent, recurring dreams he had of a European family during the 1940s.) The album was highly praised by critics for its wildly inventive instrumentation and Mangum's provocative and impassioned lyrics. Although it met with scant response from the general public when it was released, the recording has continued to gain momentum in indie music circles and has become a cult classic, selling well over 100,000 copies according to Merge Records. However, the record along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it took its toll on Mangum. The band quite abruptly went on hiatus turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for R.E.M.. All of a sudden, the band appeared to go silent and very little has been heard from Mangum since 1999.
Hiatus
Although all the members are still active with one another in other projects, it is unknown whether any more Neutral Milk Hotel albums will be released. There were plans to release a Neutral Milk Hotel rarities album on the Orange Twin label; however, after an announcement in 2005 on the Orange Twin website claiming that Jeff Mangum had in fact eventually decided against the project, it is unclear if this will ever happen.
There has been, however, some activity since In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. First, Orange Twin re-released Everything Is...., complete with extra bonus tracks, as well as Live at Jittery Joe's, a bootleg recording of a show Mangum played in a coffee house in Athens in 1997. The Major Organ and the Adding Machine album, a rather secretive project released by Orange Twin in 2001 and consisting mainly of experimental musical collage, features Mangum, along with Julian Koster, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, Elf Power's Andrew Reiger and the Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System's Will Cullen Hart and Eric Harris. There was also the release of Orange Twin Field Works, Vol. 1, Mangum's field recording of a Bulgarian folk festival, also on Orange Twin in 2001. Additionally, he plays drums on the first Circulatory System album.
Since the start of the hiatus Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum has only played live properly again once, under the pseudonym 'World of Wild Beards, Inc.', at the Kings Arms pub in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of the Tall Dwarfs' Chris Knox. He has also made appearances with Elf Power, and appeared onstage at the first of The Olivia Tremor Control's New York shows on their 2005 reunion tour, to sing briefly. Further releases from Neutral Milk Hotel, however, are indicated to be unlikely.
The other members are all still releasing or recording material: Julian Koster as The Music Tapes, Scott Spillane as The Gerbils and Jeremy Barnes as A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Bablicon and Marta Tennae.
In 2005, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea saw its re-release by Domino Records in the UK, in a sleeve featuring praise from, among others, Franz Ferdinand and The Arcade Fire, both very much influenced by the band. On Avery Island was re-released in the US in January of 2006 with live bonus tracks. Mangum has also been fairly busy creatively - following a charity auction on eBay of an acoustic guitar decorated by Mangum himself, more guitars hand-decorated by Mangum were sold via Orange Twin Records for $900 apiece. In addition, a number of Mangum's original drawings, this time costing only $10 each, were sold via Neutral Milk Hotel's website.
In 2013, made a reunion tour of the United States, Australia, Taiwan and Japan. The band subsequently played concerts sporadically until going on indefinite hiatus in mid-2015.
Gardenhead
Neutral Milk Hotel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like a walk in the park like a hole in your head
Like the feeling you get when you realize you're dead
This time we ride roller coasters into the ocean
We feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world
And I guess it's worth your time
Because there's some lives you live
And some you leave behind
The gardenhead knows my name
Leave me alone, for you know this isn't the first time
In fact this is twice in a row
That the angels have slipped through our landslide
And filled up our garden with snow
And I don't wish to taste of your insides
Or to call out your name through my phone
For the glory boys at your bedside will love you
As long as you're something to own
Follow me through a city of frost covered angels
I swear I have nothing to prove
I just want to dance in your tangles
To give me some reason to move
But to take on the world at all angles
Requires a strength I can't use
So I'll meet you up high in your anger
Of all that is hoping and waiting for you
The lyrics of Neutral Milk Hotel's song "Gardenhead" are characterized by cryptic and disconnected imagery that evokes themes of death, loss, and surrealism. The opening lines describe a sensory experience of beads that crackle into the dark and the feeling of being dead. The singer and their companions ride roller coasters into the ocean, devoid of emotion, and the song suggests that there are some lives worth living and others that are left behind. The enigmatic phrase "gardenhead knows my name" is repeated throughout the song, seemingly alluding to a person or deity who is in some way connected to the singer's sense of identity or purpose.
Another thread in the lyrics involves a relationship with a lover who is distant or unresponsive. The singer asks to be left alone, stating that they don't wish to "taste of your insides or to call out your name through my phone," perhaps referencing feelings of disgust or disillusionment. The second verse describes "glory boys" at the lover's bedside who will "love you as long as you're something to own," suggesting that the singer feels the lover is only valued for their beauty or material worth. The final lines of the song describe an encounter in a "city of frost covered angels" where the singer just wants to dance with the lover, but cannot face the world's challenges alone.
Overall, the lyrics of "Gardenhead" are highly symbolic and open to interpretation, evoking a range of emotions related to love, loss, and the struggle to find meaning in the face of death.
Line by Line Meaning
There are beads that wrap
There are adornments that wrap around your body
Around your knees that crackle into the dark
The beads crackle as you walk into the darkness
Like a walk in the park like a hole in your head
The feeling the beads give is like a leisurely stroll in a park or a blinding headache
Like the feeling you get when you realize you're dead
The feeling is like the realization that you've died
This time we ride roller coasters into the ocean
We are going on a thrill ride into the depths of the sea
We feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world
Our feelings are null as we descend towards the earth
And I guess it's worth your time
It's probably worth the effort
'Cause there's some lives you live
Because there are certain lives that you experience
And some you leave behind
And some you abandon
It gets hard to explain
It becomes increasingly difficult to articulate
The gardenhead knows my name
Nature recognizes me
Leave me alone, for you know this isn't the first time
Let me be, as this has occurred before
In fact this is twice in a row
In fact, this has happened two times consecutively
That the angels have slipped through our landslide
The divine beings have slipped through our unstable reality
And filled up our garden with snow
And covered our garden in snow
And I don't wish to taste of your insides
I don't desire to experience your internal emotions
Or to call out your name through my phone
Or to contact you through a phone call
For the glory boys at your bedside will love you
Because the people you surround yourself with will only love you for your achievements
As long as you're something to own
As long as they can possess you
Follow me through a city of frost covered angels
Come with me into a city of frozen divine beings
I swear I have nothing to prove
I promise that I have nothing to demonstrate
I just want to dance in your tangles
I simply want to find joy in your complex nature
To give me some reason to move
To give me motivation to continue forward
But to take on the world at all angles
But to conquer the world from every direction
Requires a strength I can't use
Needs a level of strength that I don't have
So I'll meet you up high in your anger
So I'll find you when you're at your highest frustration
Of all that is hoping and waiting for you
Of all the things that are expecting and anticipating your arrival
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JEFF MANGUM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jasonlaw7301
Just perfect in every way
@hansdado
you
@choglatemilg
like a walk in the park, like a hole in your head, like the feeling you get when you realize youre dead this timeeeeee