Review: Neutral Uke Hotel @ Schuba’s
Neutral Uke Hotel @ Schuba’s, April 23
A sold-out crowd gathered at Schuba’s in Chicago on April 23 to hear a live ukulele tribute to Neutral Milk Hotel’s beloved 1998 classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The band responsible for the feat was Neutral Uke Hotel, lead by Golden Bloom multi-instrumentalist and singer Shawn Fogel, baritone ukulele contemporary Michael J. Epstein of the Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library and The Motion Sick, Matt Girard on pocket trumpet and euphonium, Josh Cohen on melodica and Andrew Laubacher on percussion. The complex, cryptic and texture rich “Aeroplane” was seamlessly and sentimentaly stripped down, simplified and movingly played via ukulele.
While the band tuned up Fogel set the mood for the next 45 minutes. “Tonight is not about us,” Fogel said, “but about what we are going to create. Do whatever you need to do. Sing at the top of your lungs like a big campfire and celebrate Neutral Milk Hotel!”
The audience followed Fogel’s directions and journeyed deep into the surreal twisting of Jeff Mangum’s words. From the stage the band appeared equally wrapped up in the moment, swaying between minor harmonies and seamlessly transitioning between songs.
Fogel’s vocals accurately matched Mangum’s nasally folk croon, which added to the authenticity. Neutral Uke Hotel chiseled away detailed layering the original recording held doing away with much of the heavy electric distortion and fuzz folk, and opting for the psychedelic lo-fi fixings of a melodica. Neutral Uke Hotel’s simplified acoustic approach highlighted the emotional intensity of the albums lyrical content, making way for cryptic moments of instrumental silence. READ ON for more on Neutral Uke Hotel…
