#309 (of 365) "Oh Sister" Neutral Milk Hotel

I could write a thousand word treatise on my discovery of and subsequent decades-long fascination with Jeff Mangum and his band of merry misfits, up to an including their role in the Elephant 6 collective and in the success of Merge Records, but I will simply discuss how I had recently moved to Hoboken when they came to play on their reunion tour at the Loews Theater in Jersey City (before it was restored), waiting in line before the show in the surreal reality of (a) holy shit Neutral Milk Hotel are playing a show! (b) I'm seeing a show in the town next to where I live! and (c) holy fucking shit I can't believe I'm about to see Neutral Milk Hotel! It was as amazing as I had hoped, and they played several more shows in the area over the years that I got to see (none in a long time) but I am super grateful for that experience, one of the truly memorable concerts I've ever seen.

This track is, in a weird way, their "newest" release, in that it was an unearthed early release featured on the Ferris Wheel on Fire collection that came out in 2023. The song itself was originally released in 1995 and is one of five that made this list, but one of only two that didn't appear on the seminal In the Aeroplane over the Sea, their classic 1998 album that also was their last release. They will be heard from a bunch, right near the very top of this list, so I'll save more stories for then.

"Oh Sister (1995)" - Neutral Milk Hotel // Ferris Wheel on Fire (2023)