On Avery Island

Before Neutral Milk Hotel became a cult obsession, Jeff Mangum was buried under fuzz and drone here, howling folk songs through a wall of tape hiss until the melodies fought their way out anyway.

Robert Schneider's production piles distortion, organ, and horns so thick that a song like "Song Against Sex" nearly buries its own hooks, and the strain between the two is the record's engine. What keeps it from collapsing into noise is Mangum's voice, which never backs down — on "Naomi" the melody rides over the racket with a stubborn sweetness that makes the murk feel deliberate rather than amateur. "Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone" already carries the roar and the surreal imagery he'd sharpen two years later. This is the sound of a songwriter learning that beauty hits harder when you make the listener dig for it.