Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island

Long awaited reissue of 90s psych wig-out

While their second album, 1998’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, has been reissued, repackaged and become something of a cult favourite (both Franz Ferdinand and Arcade Fire cite it as an influence), Neutral Milk Hotel’s debut has been often overlooked. Reissued on Fire for the first time, this musical collage is a mixture of full-on psychedelic experimentation and less progressive indie. Although some of the wall-of-sound fuzz-outs become tiresome, there’s a folky heart to Jeff Mangum’s songs. Blue Cheer meets Belle & Sebastian in the warm buzz of You’ve Passed, while Where You’ll Find Me Now, Song Against Sex and Rick Benjamin’s trombone playing on instrumental title track Avery Island (which puts one in mind of Badly Drawn Boy’s The Shining) together form the album highlights.

The only extra is the two-track 1994 EP Everything Is…, which is reminiscent of Homescience circa Main Spirit Weind, with a B-side that’s like the Velvet Underground’s Heroin played through a cassette recorder placed in an adjacent room under some cushions. More extras wouldn’t have gone amiss, but what with Pree-Sisters Swallowing A Donkey’s Eye waddling across the finish line in 13 minutes 45 seconds, maybe there wasn’t the room.

Fire Records | SFIRE 036 CD

Reviewed by Jono Scott
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