Have you seen Jeff Mangum?
Neutral Milk Hotel's bandleader built a faith on the transcendent power of music. Then, when he needed it most, he gave up on it.
by Kevin Griffis
- Photos by jim stawniak
- IN THE HOTEL: multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster (from left), Jeff Mangum, multi-instrumentalist
On a London stage in October 1998, the four members of Athens band Neutral Milk Hotel played their last show together. For nearly a year, they'd been on a grueling tour to support In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, an album that had become the darling of music critics across the country.
Partly inspired by the story of Anne Frank, the album's lyrics confront death and the unknowable beyond. But it was Aeroplane's music, not just its words, that captivated critics. Option magazine likened the sound to "the Minutemen fronted by John Philip Sousa during the British Invasion." Magnet, for the past 10 years one of the premier chroniclers of the independent music scene, named the album the best in its decade of existence -- a "kick-ass weeper, 40 minutes of musical vision captured on tape."
When the band transferred that vision to live performance, the reviews were similarly glowing. A Canadian music magazine described a performance in Toronto as "musical chaos." "Band members swap instruments like they're hot potatoes, changing from marching band ensemble to noise-punk quartet at the drop of a flugelhorn."
And Aeroplane resonated with fans -- especially fans sick of the Nirvana knockoffs and Lilith Fair alums jamming up "alternative" radio stations in 1998. From city to city, they crowded into smoky clubs with low ceilings, like pilgrims gathering before 19th-century evangelists. Even Rolling Stone caught on, declaring Neutral Milk Hotel the creative pinnacle of a collective of Athens musicians called Elephant 6.
At the center of all this was Jeff Mangum -- Louisiana native, Athens transplant, chief visionary for Neutral Milk Hotel and acknowledged savant of Elephant 6. Although Aeroplane was a Neutral Milk Hotel album, it was Mangum who conceived of it, who wrote the songs, who channeled the sounds in his head onto acetate. Drummer Jeremy Barnes knew this as the band left the stage that night in London. Sure, the tour may have ended, but with Mangum leading the way, the band's march toward coronation as underground rock royalty seemed assured. That night, says Barnes, "we were completely united."
Almost five years after that last concert, the members of Neutral Milk Hotel have scattered, like confetti tossed from the top of the Chrysler Building. The follow-up to Aeroplane was never recorded. There was no reunion tour. But there was no official breakup, either. Just -- nothing.
Jeff Mangum, whose sound had uplifted so many, now put out only silence. He dropped out, crisscrossing the U.S., sleeping on friends' couches, not doing much of anything. For a man whose life had been spent believing in the power of music to heal, and who saw that belief bear fruit, Mangum's artistic vanishing act has confounded his fans.
Says Barnes now: "Do you have any idea how heartbreaking it is to come home from six months on the road, completely unaware of any problems with your best friends, whom you play with, to walk up to the bar in your hometown and have an anonymous bartender say, 'Hey man, too bad about your band breakin' up; you really went for it. I was sorry to hear that it's over. What are you gonna do now?'"
For four years, I've wondered what happened to Jeff Mangum. Not because I knew him but because his collage of sound and memory helped me find some faith against my instincts.
On May 22, 1999, two weeks before his high school graduation, my 18-year-old brother Todd stayed late at the Snellville steakhouse where he worked as a waiter. He was still there at 3 a.m., hours after the restaurant had closed. He must have been sitting alone on the parking lot pavement amid the cooling asphalt scent, that perfume of late-night Southern suburb.
Then he stood up -- hair all cowlick, thin and sandy blond -- pulled his 20-gauge shotgun from the trunk of his 1978 Pontiac, put the neatly sawed-off end to his head and pulled the trigger.
My dad called me the next morning. I sat up in bed, swung my feet to the hardwood, got up and started packing. But it wasn't so much packing as an opium-drunk pacing, a shuffling of fabric, some of which, inexplicably, I first tried to iron.
During my first week home, I attempted to piece together his last few days, calling friends, overturning everything in his room, breaking into his e-mail account, looking for a diary, some piece of art. I wanted a map. There was nothing.
Todd was the fourth of seven children, dead-center middle, and he didn't exactly fit. He didn't play sports. He performed in school plays. His weight fluctuated from svelte to pudgy, which of course made him the butt of hundreds of brotherly barbs.
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Comments (48)
Showing 1-25 of 48
This is a great article! I'm suprised that no one has left any comments about it. I just wanted to give you a pat on the back. Great! I think the reason that I'm so intrigued with Jeff Mangum is the felling of wanting more, but not being sure if I will get more. He is an enigma. Aeroplane should be able to hold me until all his notes and doodling merge to create another masterpeice, but of course maybe not. I can guarantee you I won't let my felling linger.
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Kevin Griffis's article on NMH intrigued me. I am also a fan of in the aeroplane and Avery island. But I'm even more curious about the assumption that Jeff Mangum is obligated to do anything for those of us who feel such a connection with his music. I think Kevin handled this in a traditional fashion, which is to assume that the artist simply should continue producing art for the audience, that it is somehow natural and wholesome for the artist to forge ahead, even when they feel opposed to doing so. Kevin, you might be right in this instance, but I'm suspicious of both your and my own motivation for wanting to hear for Jeff Mangum again. I can't honestly say whether it would be good for him, or the worst kind of torture, or something inbetween. All I know is that I've been raised in a consumer culture and that I'm a lover of art who was raised to feel that those artists who made something that filled up my heart were supposed to keep bringing it out for me, like some sort of pop culture McDonalds register, the consoling starbucks of the mind at which I'll always want to feed. I really feel for both the author and his subject here. To be honest, I wanted the Monkees to get back together like crazy as a middle school boy in the seventies. And I don't mean to belittle Kevin's honest hope; I feel it too. I just think we were somehow trained to do this, like religion has never left the building, and the social relations of the producers of myth are basically the same as the ever were. what's eerie about this is that that thought sounds oddly like something I hear as an earnest plea all over Mangum's work. thanks to both of you! Jeff
What an incredibly moving piece of writing-- the only appropriate way to do justice to this album.
thankyou, this piece of writing is amazing. you have truly done this album justice, as it is one of the most amazing ive ever heard.
This is a great piece. But it's Jeef Mangum that we all wish would give us something as moving as he once did. Come back and take back music from the morons that have been destroying it!
You tracked down his father to review song lyrics? Kinda weird. I think maybe people like you unknowingly contribute to making artists like Jeff Mangum vanish. He's a guy in a band - not a cleric. Neutral Milk made excellent music. Leave it at that... enjoy it. Dissecting each and every song and lyric actually takes the fun out of it - don't you think?
its been 8 years, as sad as it is people need to now realize jeff mangum will not return
A great piece of writing. Well-worded, subjective and heartfelt. And yeah I love NMH too...
It's a good article, but it really never should've been written in the first place. The guy clearly values his privacy very highly, and if people really respect him, they won't invade it.
hey, ive heard a couple of rumors as to why he stopped playing, the more intresting one i think is the idea that he stopped because he knew that he could never make anything close to what In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was, is that true, or a crazy rumor, or is that a rumor that many people believe. I just wanted to get my thoughts out somewhere and also wanted to say, as a question and a statement, dont the fans of Neutral Milk Hotel think that they would enjoy anything else he made wether or not it was in his Mangum's eyes as good as his last CD, i personally would enjoy anything and everything he would make as i enjoy everything that he has made, on a more dreamy note, would like to say that if Jeff every happens to read this article or comment, and doesn't want to play anymore for reasons other than the one i just stated, he should at least leave one more comment to his fans stating why he did so so that we could move on and know for sure what the future held in terms of us hearing more from him or not, i think that if he simply said i dont not wish to play anymore because i want to have a different lifestyle and do want to have my privacy, i would be able to leave the notion that he may come back in the past and will be able to more fully enjoy what he has given us and not expect and want more, but thats a real long shot, anyone who has any opinion on this whatsoever please tell me so i know what others think.
No artist is obilgated to talk to anyone. Bottom line. He gave you the art in the first place. That is obviously enough.
read it while trying to listen to the record ar the same time ... now i'm crying ... too much beauty and chaos
great article... i stumbled upon this band and went to see when they were going to play in D.C... then I saw they were playing at the Black Cat... in 1998 and then I started looking around the interwebs and I ended up here. Great music, I wish I had more, but that's just a man being greedy. It's probably best that they don't record another album that might not live up to these high standards... or maybe I'm just using reverse psychology
I agree with Jeff, its his personal life and music, if he wants to hide away and write the best stuff in the world then let him. As a musician myself i understand him completly. I love Jeff and would love to meet him anytime and just sit and watch him walk back and forth. good article though, inspired me so much
Jeff has every right to keep to himself. He gave us all a beautiful gift, maybe we should just thank him by respecting him.
i admire the concept of disappearing from the face of the earth, only to resurface with a shining, new form of beauty clutched in the hand. i too wish to do this someday, and probably for the healing of the world, much the same as Mr. Mangum's vision. the article was splendidly written and filled in many gaps in my knowledge of NMH, notably of . superb job.
When I first found this album, I dont think I quite understood the concept of just what I was listening to, but I knew that I liked it. And then, one day it just clicked, and a whole new world was laid out before me. The way this album makes me feel, has never been reproduced by any other before or after it, and for that, I would like to thank Jeff Mangum and everyone else involved. It has changed my life, and I feel that I am now more in tune with who exactly I am and what exactly the world around me is because of it.
hi, I really think you shouldn't have done this. If Jeff wants to be "alone" you should let him and I think it was pretty rude of you to ask the father about such personal family stuff. I understand that you want more of NMH art but they already gave you so much dont be greedy. much love, Stanley
I have a silly hope that maybe Jeff Mangum himself will read this. Silly, I know, but a hope none the less. It seems to me that people, myself included, become addicted to the, if I may be so straightforward, healing qualities of the music. That addiction, I think, proves that this album holds some kind of wonderful quality for some people. And Mr. Mangum himself has said that he wants to be a "healing force" in the world. Whether he stopped due to a lack of inspiration, a lack of motivation, or merely the inability to handle fame I do not know. But Mr. Mangum undoubtedly has something beautiful in him, something that benefits his fellow humans. To have something that can benefit mankind like that and choosing not to use it seems not quite right to me. Jeff has, from what I've seen, changed many lives, and all for the better. You have something wonderful, Jeff. If you use the same talents you demonstarted in Aeroplane, then you will have the love of many. And the world will be a brighter place because of you. I don't know whether it's true or not, but I've read that Jeff's brother commited suicide when he was still young. This album has, I'm sure, saved many lives from suicide. To spare people from going through the same pain that you (perhaps) did is beautiful, no matter how draining or exhausting it may be. And you're not just making life better for one or two people, no. You are making life better for hundreds, possibly THOUSANDS of people. And they all love you for it. So you have this wonderful thing, and you aren't using it. Apparently, you're sitting at home in slippers, or planning to be a sculptor, or something. But why do that when you can do something that you KNOW will make the world a better place? I don't know. I just know that Jeff has made my life a lot better, and that I sincerely wish he'd share his light with the world again. I am sad to say that it is a wish that is fading with every year. And while I do appreciate the wonderful things that Mr. Mangum has made already, I still dearly wish to for more. For I know the power is there (somewhere) and I know that it could be doing something amazing. And, knowing that, I wonder why it isn't.
Fantastic job on this article I have to Say...First few times through "On Avery Island" didn't come close to being nearly as good as "Aeroplane".. But after Listening to it a few times through i'm not sure i can say wich is the better Album. "Song Against Sex" and "Naomi" Are Amazing.. But so are "Ghost" "2 Headed boy (1+2)" and "Holland 1945" so i'd say it's ties.. TO Jeff: The you for gracing us with you wonderful music and lyrics (and fantastic drawings!) for however sort a time! I Love you and your thoughts on everything you've written about..I'm not going to try to guess...but thank you. If you return or not doesn't matter.. Live well and have a happy life! (Cornerstone 2007, As Cities Burn's Guitarist was wearing a neutral milk hotel shirt!)
I thought this was a fantastic article. I was riveted. I was looking for what Jeff Magnum was actually DOING. and I found out that the answer is, simply put, nothing. And you know what? that's fine with me. I still think that he may still have a few songs to sing, and perhaps we will hear them at some point. perhaps not.
In the words of Oscar Wilde; "To reveal the art and conceal the artist is art's aim" And if Jeff wishes to dissapear, for whatever reason, then people should accept that. He left behind something truly wonderful, a peice of art of transcendant beauty, an album hailed by many as the greatest ever made. However I think that such brilliance only leaves us wanting more, and Kevin Griffis was right, in a way, to do what he did. I cant honestly say that in his position, with journalistic resources available, I wouldnt attempt to track Jeff down and speak to him. In fact every time I listen to Aeroplane, or any other Neutral record, I feel a strong desire to speak to its creator, if only to understand the music and the reasons for his disenchantment with it. I guess at the end of the day, everyone hopes that he will return, and I do think its a real possibility. Someone like Jeff, with so much brilliance inside them, can only keep it pent up for so long. Or maybe Kevin is right, and he is merely amassing fragments with which to peice together another glorious mosaic for our waiting ears. I guess only time will tell.
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