Neutral Milk Hotel return

Althought their career was short-lived their influence is far reaching with their long list of admirers include R.E.M, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and Franz Ferdinand.

The good news is, after a lenghty hiatus the band are back, and better still they’ve announced a gig in Belfast.

Following last year’s re-emergence of founding member Jeff Mangum, all four original members of one of America’s most treasured musical cults Neutral Milk Hotel have reformed and are coming to Belfast on May 15.

The band are playing a limited run of UK dates whilst headlining with Arcade Fire at the legendary Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. Tickets for the Limelight 1 show are on sale from all usual outlets.

Jeff Mangum, Jeremy Barnes, Scott Spillane, & Julian Koster are Neutral Milk Hotel.

In 1998 they released their second album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea which was hailed as an instant classic. These songs inspired mass sing-alongs at live shows and the record became an influential touchstone for several generations of indie-rock musicians around the world. After the release of their debut album Avery Island in 1996, Neutral Milk Hotel became a fully-fledged band. Soon after this, they moved to Athens, Georgia, where many of Mangum’s friends had begun to settle, and the Elephant 6 recording company began to take shape. After this, the band went back to Denver, to record a proper follow up to On Avery Island.

Although it did not meet commercial success at the time of release, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea which has gone on to sell over 300,000 copies and received critical acclaim.

Despite growing popularity, the group disbanded in 1999 after Mangum reputedly became disenchanted with touring and the music press and he remained out of the spotlight until his tentative re-emergence a couple of years ago.