Elephant 6
Today I finally shoved other modes of entertainment aside to scroll through my iTunes in search of hidden inspiration. Instead, I found a multiple personalitied mess – there is range and then there is identity crisis. So it's been decided. I have to take Marie Kondo’s Tidying to task on my iTunes. How long would it take to play every album in order from A-Z to rule out those that no longer ‘sparked joy'? How long would it take to find myself and shake out the influence of former significant others?
Among those spared would most certainly be Neutral Milk Hotel, in particular, their burned-into-my-soul, 1998 opus, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. From the first note on the first track, my once simple task of tidying turned into a NMH fangirling fury. I loaded up photos, articles, theories, and suddenly, courtesy of YouTube, it was 1998 and I was watching NMH perform at the 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia. Whether you believe in time travel or not, believe this, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, is a tragic masterpiece, a beautiful cacophony of sound that will not be denied. The crazy part is this – in the midst of all the tragedy and loss, there is an unwavering hope and defiant joy. My favorite kind. You better damn well believe there was joy as I got up to dance and sing along at the top of my lungs with Jeff Mangum.
My iTunes tidying plan has yet to take off, obviously, but for easy access to transcendent gems like Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, I’ll happily take it on. Challenge accepted. Piss off, identity crisis.