The return of Jeff Mangum in New York

Nineties indie curiosity, Jeff Mangum, plays his first headline show for over a decade in New York at Town Hall this Saturday, ahead of two shows at Loews Jersey City in New Jersey on November 5th and 6th.

Mangum, who was born in Louisiana, co-founded indie label the Elephant 6 collective in 1992 as a vehicle for two bands: Apples In Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel. Both bands shunned the saccharine indie-pop of the late eighties for earthier, ramshackle production that sounded intentionally raw and homemade. The movement collapsed in the late nineties as various members suffered personal problems, but has recently reformed and started touring at a time when bedroom recordings and lo-fi production are more popular than ever.



During the band’s decade-long absence, it was widely reported that Mangum had a breakdown. He had always been an eccentric character, composing songs in the dead of night to the ghost he thought lived in his wardrobe and growing terrified of public appearances after the band’s popularity grew. Neutral Milk Hotel’s second album, 1998’s ‘In An Aeroplane Over The Sea’, was written about Anne Frank and the Holocaust and featured teen sex, flesh-licking ladies, the smell of semen, communism and death. It was both mad and real, a savant’s perception of the 20th Century, and its intensity precipitated Mangum’s complete disappearance.

While Mangum retreated and Neutral Milk Hotel disbanded, ‘In An Aeroplane Over The Sea’ and the band’s first album, ‘On Avery Island’ earned them a cult following. Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand listed Neutral Milk Hotel as an influence. They became a benchmark; a discovery of rich, untainted brilliance awaiting teenagers venturing into independent music. But as time went on, a reunion or resurgence by Mangum and the rest of the band seemed increasingly unlikely.

Until this year. In February, it was announced that Mangum would play two September shows, at Harvard’s Sanders Theater and Boston’s Jordan Hall. Both shows were so enthusiastically received that a bewildered Mangum came back for two encores after the crowds just wouldn’t go home. He appeared for an acoustic set at ATP in New Jersey this month. Next March, Mangum curates his own ATP festival on British soil at Butlins in Minehead.



As for New York: if we missed out the first time round, Mangum is making up for it this week. After an eight-song set for the protestors at Wall Street on October 4, his reedy vocal back to its full strength, Mangum announced: “Of course I support [Occupy Wall Street]. This is just something small I can do.”

It might not have seemed like much to him. But for fans of the indie hero whose reappearance seemed as likely as the resurrection of Elliot Smith or Kurt Cobain, Mangum’s recent shows are very big news indeed.