 |
| Image source: imgur.com |
Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel
Release Date: February 10, 1998
Genre: Indie rock, lo-fi
Track Listing:
1. "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One" – 2:00
2. "The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three" – 3:06
3. "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" – 3:22
4. "Two-Headed Boy" – 4:26
5. "The Fool" – 1:53
6. "Holland, 1945" – 3:15
7. "Communist Daughter" – 1:57
8. "Oh Comely" – 8:18
9. "Ghost" – 4:08
10. "[untitled]" – 2:16
11. "Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two" – 5:13
Rating: 7.8/10
This album is the embodiment of all things that are hipster. It's lo-fi, rough, poetically pretentious, and did I mention hipster?
So far, it sounds like I dislike this album and hipsters, but honestly, I don't mind the subculture and lo-fi is just not my cup of tea. Also, I don't think the genre is necessarily tied to hipsters, but I will say that I have noticed a lot of those who fall under this group listen to lo-fi. Despite my initial impressions, I will press on and write this review anyway because I have a couple of things to say about this album.
I decided to listen to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea after a friend recommended it to me. He mentioned that this particular album had stellar reviews and that I should give it a try. I looked on Wikipedia to find a quick summary of its reception and discovered it had high ratings. But listed among those who rated this album was none other than Pitchfork. Based on what I know about the publication company that is notorious for writing holier-than-thou reviews, I thought, "Oh great. Pitchfork gave this a 10 out of 10. This [album] is going to be pretentious and obscure."
Within a minute of the first song, my predictions were immediately confirmed. I was tempted to abandon the effort once I heard the melodica kick in (that's right, a melodica: an instrument that is, for some reason, paramount and common in a lot of indie songs), but I restrained myself because I wanted to see for myself on why this album had such high ratings.
The composition wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The lyrics weren't cliche although I thought they were a bit vague and made little sense as they attempted to illustrate a meaningful story of some sort. What surprised me the most about this album is that it was released in 1998 even though its sound makes it seem like it recently came out. As a generally accepted idea, when you have an album that still sounds new 10 years after its initial release, that's when you know it's a really good album, and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of them.
The only thing that I did not like about this album is its aesthetic. The horns associating the lo-fi noise were a little painful to listen to in addition to the melodica in some songs (this disdain is more of a personal preference rather than an attempt to illustrate objective qualities). It was difficult listening to the entire album and letting it sink in, because in addition to hearing lo-fi for the first time, I just couldn't identify with its sound.
Overall, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea wasn't bad and I finally understood why it had high ratings-- it still has that new sound to it and the structure of the songs are far from your typical verse-verse-chorus outline, which is very refreshing after hearing many other songs that follow a common formula. The arrangement of the album is also unique as some songs have two parts to them in addition to others being pure instrumentals. It's not something I would return to nor put into my playlist due to personal preference, but I still appreciate it and consider it to be one of the early hallmarks of indie music before the genre grew popular in the late 2000s. If you're into indie music and lo-fi, I recommend this album. If not, you can either listen to it once and never come back to it again, or you can steer clear from it and hope to never hear it at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment