Скачать или смотреть LONESOME FRIDAYS 2025 # 7 - Gardenhead (Neutral Milk Hotel)

Here’s a song that I’ve just revived after a long break. Gardenhead appears as the highlight (IMO) of the better of the two Neutral Milk Hotel albums, On Avery Island (1996). I know that may be an unpopular opinion because everyone loooooves In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (for good reason) but for some reason the first record hits harder for me and this song is a big reason why. And people pay less attention to Avery Island, which makes it a better source for songs (NO ONE needs to hear me, or probably anyone else, cover the title track from the other one!) . I used to do Gardenhead in my solo sets of old, especially circa 2008-10 when I was often accompanying myself on drums. The OG @neutralmilkhotel disbanded in 1998 and lead singer-songwriter Jeff Mangum entered reclusion. My friends in fellow Athens “Elephant Six” bands joked that he’d just gotten really into basketball.(I did meet Jeff during his time of hiding, at an Of Montreal show when my buddy @allsignalmustpass was touring with them on bass). But during that time, an early NMH song felt like buried treasure. Then the band re-formed and toured circa 2013, at which point their songs were off the table for me so I haven’t performed any since then. Until a month or two ago when I brought it out on a whim for a show at Groton Music Hall.

I’ve been thinking about the storied history of the Athens, GA music scene a lot recently, as I’m getting ready to release an EP remaking six songs from @rem ‘s 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction. NMH made On Avery Island only 11 years later but music scenes can grow and change quickly, especially in college towns, and those albums, while loosely connected, feel worlds away.

Stay tuned for the new music — first single is coming next week — and in the meantime, enjoy some buried treasure.

#neutralmilkhotel #gardenhead #jeffmangum #lonesomefridays lonesomefridays