Neutral Milk Hotel

Deserved or not, Jeff Mangum developed a mythos as the Thomas Pynchon of indie-pop, largely avoiding public appearances since disbanding Neutral Milk Hotel after 1998’s masterpiece, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. With the recent return of fellow Elephant 6 alum Olivia Tremor Control, and an offer to curate All Tomorrow’s Parties—presumably pleaded on bended knee—it seems the conditions are finally welcoming enough for the erstwhile recluse to make his full-on return to the music world. Not that we needed the conditions to be right—Mangum was welcome anytime, dammit—but when you’ve been away for 13 years, maybe friends asking nicely can help. As a warm-up to his transatlantic jaunt, Mangum is playing a series of East Coast dates, and yes, Neutral Milk Hotel songs.