Neutral Milk Hotel – “Ghost” from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998, Merge)
I want you to try something. The next time you’re in the shower, tilt your head down so that the flow of water hits you smack dab at the base of your skull, where it meets your neck. If you have thick hair it may help to move it out of the way. It may take some doing (and I like to have my palms open in front of me) but eventually I think you’ll find that all of the pent up joy coursing through your very veins will well up to the surface in one triumphant and damn near overwhelming moment. Or else I’m even more foregone than I imagined.
The Buddhists and the Hindus refer to this as the Bindu chakra, which unfortunately is probably not a clever portmanteaux for us to use when referring to both religions at once. I think. I don’t actually know the first thing about chakras, but I can tell you that this song sounds the way the above exercise makes me feel. And again, maybe I’m a weirdo.
Speaking of weird, how did I never notice before that Neutral Milk Hotel owes a bit to Flaming Lips? While the latter would use big fat synth patches to add richness to a sound already rich with warm acoustic guitars, NMH do it with distorted bass and trumpet. The song becomes more propulsive as it goes, crescendoing in a way that is more spiritual than sexual. “And now she knows she’ll never be afraid…” ultimately ending up in a “de de de de de” and yawning vocalizations that carry something mystic in them.
To be fair, I don’t have the foggiest idea what the fuck this song is about. Maybe it’s a comforting declaration that while death can break our bodies, our spirits can live forever within one another. A week ago I nearly died from a gangrenous gallbladder, so I’m not mad at this sentiment. Drench me in milk and holy water, for I am here, and I am alive, and I’ll write about goofy shit like chakras and what I do in the shower if I feel like it.
The Shuffler 