Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangumis an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the lyricist, vocalist and guitarist of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as being one of the cofounders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. He is best known for his complex, lyrically dense songwriting, apparent on the critically lauded album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth24 October 1970
CityRuston, LA
CountryUnited States of America
I spend a lot of time practicing active imagination before I go to sleep. What I'm feeling will manifest as images through active imagination. And then I go to sleep, and those play out even more in my dreams.
The songs sort of come out spontaneously and it'll take me awhile to figure out what exactly is happening lyrically, what kind of story I'm telling. Then I start building little bridges - word bridges - to make everything go from one point to the next point to the next point until it reaches the end.
I have a very limited knowledge of recording, but the miracle of being able to capture sounds on magnetic tape and the miracle of electricity, and these little magnetic particles, is amazing to me.
There is a whole aspect of freedom to recording at home that you don't get in a studio. The possibilities are infinite, and there is no reason not to explore them.
My songs pretty much revolve in my brain most of the time - usually, whatever's coming next.
I'm very influenced by the circus. A lot of the dreams that I have, I'm in the circus.
I bring a record home, and it connects with me like nothing else. In my ideal situation, somebody will do that with my record.
I went to Louisiana Tech, which is just down the road from where we lived. It was an easy college to get into.
I decided at 10 I wanted to be in a band; everyone else wanted to play football.
Usually, I create tunes that are fragmented. I think the biggest obstacle for people with their creativity is that they feel they have to sit down and create this finished, polished product.
My songs pretty much revolve in my brain most of the time - usually, whatevers coming next.
I love the idea of a record containing an entire universe; where the sounds span decades of recording from all over the world and all sorts of different sources.
Soft silly music is meaningful, magical.
God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life