Maybe around the time we were 15 or 16, there was a girl with fake eyelashes, maybe five years older, otherworldly, sophisticated, and obsessed with Neutral Milk Hotel. She described her dream boy who had sung "Holland, 1945" into the answering machine for her. And as sweet and trite as this now sounds, with NMH now becoming beloved even by Paris Hilton, the music of Jeff Mangum, and mostly the 11 songs on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, still heavily resound enough that news of his coming out of the wilderness, however tiny a step, is always news. Apparently, he played a semi-private concert on Saturday in Brooklyn, and International Tapes has music from half of that set. It's gruff and Aeroplane-heavy, Mangum's sharp voice still ringing strong enough that, as we speak, it's probably breaking young girls' hearts all over. Here's hoping he does this again and we can see it.
Download: Jeff Mangum's Semi-Secret Show (via Stereogum)
