Owen's Ten Great Albums From 1998

  1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea   Can't say where I was or how I first heard this album, but it certainly played a major part in the shape of my musical preference to come. The music that always draws me in the most is what tends to effect me lyrically. I used to write out the lyrics to these songs to better understand and appreciate the structure and literary devices. I was particularly drawn to Jeff Magnum's brilliant use of consonance in the lyrics, which the album is rife with; the repetition of similar sounds particularly using hard sounds or consonants as seen in this example fr o m ,   King of Carrot Flowers pt.2,  "And on the lazy days, the dogs dissolve and drain away" repeating “ D ”  and “ S ”  sounds. And if you want you can look to the title track In the Aeroplane Over the Sea , which carries the repeating “ S ”  sound motif for its entirety. Jeff Magnum said that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea captures his own disco...