Neutral Milk Hotel just shared the song “Little Birds,” written in 1998, for the first time while also announcing a new box set scheduled for release on February, 24 through Merge.
“Little Birds” is a prayer-like song singer Jeff Mangum wrote in 1998 and played later that day at a friend’s party. Shortly after, he left Neutral Milk Hotel. He wouldn’t play the song again for 10 years, but that live recording floated around online.
Magnum wrote the song after a run-in with an anti-LGBTQ street preacher in downtown Athens. A newer version was recorded live at the Prospect Park Bandshell on Nuetral Milk Hotel’s 2014 reunion tour. It’s included on the Merge box set.
The box set includes images collected by Magnum for years. It’s a discography-spanning compendium of his work. In 2011, Magnum collected nearly all of the band’s recorded output in a limited-edition box set. He self-released under Neutral Milk Hotel Records.
The Merge edition of The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel marks the collection’s first digital release. It includes an expanded double LP edition of On Avery Island, an exclusive picture disc of Live At Jittery Joe’s, a previously unreleased live recording of “Little Birds,” plus the “Holland, 1945,” “Engin” seven-inch on black vinyl with brand new art.
