The beloved indie-folk band Neutral Milk Hotel has announced a career-encompassing box set that will be out on February 24th via Merge Records. The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel includes an expanded double LP edition of On Avery Island, an exclusive 12” picture disc of Live at Jittery Joe’s and the “Holland, 1945” / “Engine” 7-inch on black vinyl with brand new art.
In addition to the announcement, the band has unveiled the previously unreleased track “Little Birds” in demo form, as well as a version recorded during the band’s 2014 reunion tour in Brooklyn. The story of the song is told below:
He [Bandleader Jeff Mangum] wouldn’t play the song again for 10 years, but that live recording floated around online. Mangum wrote the song after a confrontation with a street preacher in downtown Athens who was spewing hatred towards LGBTQ people. A small group of five or six people gathered and shouted back. Mangum yelled to the point that the preacher got off his stool and slinked away. That distressing experience reverberated as Mangum wrote “Little Birds,” a song about many things, including how conservative Christianity too often imbues so-called believers with an utterly warped sense of morality.
Stream “Little Birds” below, and preorder the box set here.
