Toronto – I have long been a fan of Neutral Milk Hotel. Jeff Mangum’s pseudo-orchestral indie folk masterpiece In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is one of my favourite albums. So when I heard that New York based Neutral Uke Hotel would be playing that very same album from start to finish (on ukuleles no less), I was pretty intrigued. And a bit excited.
“We’re not here so you can watch us perform,” said frontman Shawn Fogel, explaining that instead he wanted the crowd to sing and clap along, kind of like a big hootenanny or something. “Neutral Uke Hotel’s mission statement is simple: to unite obsessed fans of Neutral Milk Hotel” reads their bio, and uniting fans is certainly what they did on Friday night. Seemingly everyone was singing along and the band was visibly impressed with the response. In a sense, the whole room became part of the band. Good vibes were floating around all over the place. And the songs sound pretty damn good on ukulele too.
Some might argue that this is just an exercise in nostalgia, like an indie rock version of The Musical Box or Beatlemania or perhaps even The Australian Pink Floyd Show (seriously, Australian guys? You couldn’t think of a better name than that? But i digress) To that argument I would counter, “Yeah, maybe. So what?” and also that it really is all about a celebration of these songs. Music is meant to be performed and heard and shouted along to. Otherwise, what’s the point?
