Early years Neutral Milk Hotel originated in
Ruston, Louisiana, in the late 1980s as a
home recording project of musician
Jeff Mangum. Initially using the name Milk, Mangum made the recordings while in high school. Early Milk recordings, such as
Invent Yourself a Shortcake and
Beauty, were shared between Mangum and his friends
Robert Schneider,
Bill Doss, and
Will Cullen Hart. The four friends branded these homemade
cassette tapes with an imaginary
record label,
Elephant 6, which eventually grew into a loose
musical collective. When Mangum learned of another band called Milk, he changed the name of the project to Neutral Milk Hotel, based on a name Hart suggested. According to Doss, the name is a
non sequitur influenced by the
Dada movement, and it does not have meaning. After graduating from high school, Mangum attended
Louisiana Tech University, but dropped out. He moved to
Athens, Georgia, and played in a band called
Synthetic Flying Machine with Doss and Hart, but left shortly after the band was formed. He then became a
vagabond, and lived in cities such as
Denver,
Los Angeles, and
Seattle. Mangum occasionally recorded music during this period, including a 1993
demo album titled
Hype City Soundtrack. Schneider says
Hype City Soundtrack was a reaction to what Mangum believed was the rampant commercialization of music within large cities. While living in Seattle, Mangum overcame his apprehensiveness about the music industry and released the song "
Everything Is" on
Cher Doll Records. The song's exposure convinced Mangum to record more music under the name Neutral Milk Hotel. According to Mangum: "The single was a godsend because I was pretty much at the end of my rope with just about everything in my life at that point... I ended up sending a tape to [Nancy Ostrander] at Cher Doll Records and she saved me merely by saying she wanted to do a single." At the time, Mangum was also a bass guitarist for
the Apples in Stereo, a band that Schneider formed while living in Denver. The members of the Apples in Stereo wanted to sign with
SpinART Records, and met with their legal representative, Brian McPherson, in Los Angeles. McPherson was drawn to Mangum, who was wearing a Shrimper Records T-shirt. After learning that Mangum wrote "Everything Is," a song that McPherson had previously listened to and enjoyed, the two worked out an agreement for McPherson to become Neutral Milk Hotel's representative. McPherson sent copies of "Everything Is" and another song, "Ruby Bulbs," to
Merge Records founders
Laura Ballance and
Mac McCaughan. The two liked the music and added Neutral Milk Hotel to their roster.
On Avery Island and expansion to a quartet performing with Neutral Milk Hotel in 1997 Mangum moved to Denver to record the first Neutral Milk Hotel album,
On Avery Island. Schneider served as the
producer, and the recording sessions lasted from February to May 1995. Although Schneider was interested in an expansive
Beatlesque production, he aligned with Mangum's preference for a
lo-fi sound, admitting that "at first it was frustrating, but I came to enjoy it. That's how I learned to produce, doing that record, because I totally had to let go of what I thought it should be like."
On Avery Island was released in the United States on March 26, 1996, by Merge Records, and in the United Kingdom on September 30, 1996, by
Fire Records. It sold around 5,000 copies and received positive reviews from critics, who characterized the music as lo-fi pop. Kurt Wolff of the
Houston Chronicle described listening to the music as "a trippy experience," and ultimately called the album "a fresh, exciting standout". The British publication
NME wrote: "Neutral Milk Hotel can convert miserable-as-sin introspection into folky mantras that bore into your skull like a well-aimed power drill."
On Avery Island was ranked at number thirty-five on
The Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll for 1996. After the release of
On Avery Island, Mangum sought other musicians to tour with. While living in Ruston, Mangum befriended New York musician
Julian Koster. They exchanged demo tapes, and Koster joined Neutral Milk Hotel as the bassist. Around this period, Koster received a letter from Chicago drummer
Jeremy Barnes, who wrote how he was not meeting the expectations he had set for himself. According to Koster: "Jeremy had written me this really wonderful letter, basically saying he was being led into a far different life than I think Jeremy Barnes was supposed to live ... I think he was sensing that his destiny lay elsewhere." The letter resonated with Koster and Mangum, and they traveled to Chicago to meet him. After a short audition, the two persuaded Barnes to drop out of
DePaul University and join the band. The final band member came when Mangum was traveling to New York City to live with Koster. On a stop in
Austin, Texas, Mangum met former Rustonian musician
Scott Spillane, who was working at a pizza shop. Mangum helped make pizzas during the late-night "drunk rush", after which he convinced Spillane to join the band. The band members moved to New York City and lived and rehearsed in a house owned by Koster's grandmother. Koster encouraged the band members to play instruments outside their comfort zones. For example, drummer Barnes learned to play the accordion, and Spillane learned how to play the horn parts from
On Avery Island, practicing on a two-valve horn for hours every day. On April 28, 1997, Neutral Milk Hotel began a national tour, during which the band members learned to play as a unit. The
On Avery Island tour generated enough money for the band members to afford to move to Athens, where a large group of Elephant 6 musicians were living. By the spring of 1997, Mangum had written and demoed nearly every song for a second album. He shared the demos with his bandmates before they moved to Denver to record the album.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Neutral Milk Hotel's second album,
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, was produced by Schneider, and was recorded from July to September 1997. Schneider used new recording techniques to capture Mangum's lo-fi preferences. Mangum liked having a layer of
distortion over the music, but Schneider did not use standard effects equipment such as
Big Muffs or
distortion pedals. Instead, Schneider used heavy
compression and placed a Bellari RP-220 tube mic
pre-amp close to Mangum's guitar. Schneider then ran the sound through a
mixing console, and maxed out the sound on a cassette tape. This process was done for nearly every instrument used on
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Schneider claimed that the nonlinearities of microphone distortion gave the album its unique "warm" quality.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was released on February 10, 1998. Merge pressed 5,500 CD and 1,600 vinyl copies, and expected sales to be similar to
On Avery Island. These initial projections were correct, as the album sold moderately well for the first few months. Critical responses to
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea were mostly positive, but not laudatory. Rob Brunner of
Entertainment Weekly praised the unique instrumentation and "bouncy pop melodies", but described some of the songs as "lifeless acoustic warblers."
Pitchfork M. Christian McDermott also commended the music, which he called a blend of "
Sgt. Pepper with early 90s lo-fi" that he found "as catchy as it is frightening." A more tepid review came from
Ben Ratliff of
Rolling Stone, who felt the rhythms and chord changes were boring, and the heavy layer of distortion sometimes masked the absence of decent melodies.
CMJ New Music Monthly ranked
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as the number one album of 1998, and it placed fifteenth in the Pazz & Jop poll for 1998. To promote the album, Neutral Milk Hotel embarked on a tour of North America and Europe. Musicians
John Fernandes and Will Westbrook were brought on as touring members, and were taught how to play the horn parts with Spillane. While on tour, Neutral Milk Hotel gained a reputation for chaotic and physically demanding concerts.
Great Lakes member Ben Crum recalled: "It was definitely dangerous. There often seemed to be a very real chance that someone, probably Julian, would get hurt. Jeff was always doing things like picking him up and throwing him into the drums." The band members often could not afford lodgings, and sometimes asked people in the audience if they could spend the night at their house, not realizing the homeowner was, in fact, terrified of them.
Hiatus and cult following According to journalist Luke Winkie, the release of
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea inadvertently coincided with the rise of the Internet. In the late 1990s, music journalism websites like
Pitchfork became more prevalent, and online
message boards increased in popularity. Winkie believes this period was important to exposing Neutral Milk Hotel to a wider audience, and wrote, "The internet has a one-of-a-kind relationship with Neutral Milk Hotel". Their newfound high profile had a negative effect on Mangum, and his mental health began to deteriorate. He constantly told his bandmates he wanted to quit, but never explained why. Some journalists have speculated he became tired of touring and constantly explaining his lyrics to fans; Elephant 6 biographer Adam Clair believes he may have been overwhelmed by the way fans viewed his music, and the high expectations placed upon any subsequent recordings. Regardless of the reason, Mangum came to the conclusion that he could not continue performing, and instead wanted to disappear from the public eye. Instead of telling the other band members of his decision, he simply avoided the topic of new music altogether. This led to the unofficial breakup of Neutral Milk Hotel shortly after the tour. The final Neutral Milk Hotel live performance occurred on October 13, 1998, in
London. During the hiatus, Mangum occasionally worked on some projects, but nothing was widely publicized. When asked about a third Neutral Milk Hotel album in a 2002 interview, Mangum said: "I don't know. It would be nice, but sometimes I kind of doubt it." Although Neutral Milk Hotel did not officially break up, the other band members worked on music with other Elephant 6 bands such as
Bablicon,
the Gerbils,
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and
the Music Tapes. Koster notes how he and the other band members initially thought the hiatus would be a short break to focus on their other musical projects. Koster recounted: "The fact that Neutral Milk wasn't doing something just felt natural, because so much else was happening, and we had just done so much. It didn’t feel unusual at all. I suspected nothing." Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel were not told why the band went on hiatus. Some were angry and accused Mangum of being selfish, and others wrote hoax blog posts giving fake details of upcoming tours and other false information. The speculation and online discussions raised the profile of the band, to the point that Neutral Milk Hotel and, in particular,
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea gained a
cult following and converted Mangum into a larger-than-life figure. In 2003,
Creative Loafing writer Kevin Griffis dedicated an entire cover story to trying to track down Mangum for personal closure. The search ended when Mangum sent him an email that read: "I'm not an idea. I am a person, who obviously wants to be left alone." Journalist Mark Richardson attempted to explain
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea rise in popularity: "Because [Mangum] was inaccessible, there was no outlet for connection other than the record itself and other fans who shared a passion. By doing nothing, Neutral Milk Hotel developed a cult."
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea critical standing rose tremendously in the years after its release, which Winkie attributes to the cult following.
Domino Recording Company released a
reissue in 2005, which was awarded a perfect 10/10 score by Mark Richardson of
Pitchfork. Richardson wrote: "It's a record of images, associations, and threads; no single word describes it so well as the beautiful and overused kaleidoscope." Other music outlets such as
AllMusic and the
Encyclopedia of Popular Music also gave the album perfect scores.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea sales figures increased during the 2000s, with an estimated 140,000 copies sold by 2005.
Polygon writer Garrett Martin noted how fans of the album were "incredibly passionate", recording
covers for
YouTube, writing poetry, and forming
tribute bands. Martin said: "The fanbase might be relatively small, but it's fervent."
Reunion and second hiatus Mangum resurfaced in 2008 with a few solo shows before embarking on full solo tours in 2011 and 2012. During this time, Mangum curated a
box set of Neutral Milk Hotel material, which included an
extended play of unreleased songs titled
Ferris Wheel on Fire. As Mangum was active again within the music industry, rumors began spreading among fans and music outlets of a potential Neutral Milk Hotel reunion. On April 29, 2013, Neutral Milk Hotel officially announced a reunion tour with all four members of the band. In an interview with
Orlando Weekly, Schneider said: "[The hiatus] certainly wasn't purposeful, and I'm not sure [Mangum] even realized he was being a recluse until it was overwhelmingly the case that everyone was talking about it. I've known for seven years that he was going to start touring. I didn't know if he was going to actually start doing it, but I knew in my heart that he was working toward it." Neutral Milk Hotel toured from 2013 to 2015. In a 2014 post on the Neutral Milk Hotel website, the band members wrote how their 2015 tour would be their last tour for the "foreseeable future", and that they were going to take an extended hiatus. The post stated: "Dear friends we love you but it's time to say goodbye for the never ending now." In 2023, Neutral Milk Hotel released another box set, titled
The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel. The box set includes every recording by the band, including ''
Live at Jittery Joe's, a live album Mangum released independently in 2001. The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel'' was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the
66th Annual Grammy Awards. ==Artistry==