A lullaby

Engine by Neutral Milk Hotel is one of those songs that has become part of the overarching soundtrack of my life. Playing it for a friend one day after school was the first experience I'd ever had watching someone melt in the most endearing way to a song that I was singing. It was one of the first songs I learned how to play, and it's a song I still play often when I'm ending one of my late-night singing sessions.

Neutral Milk Hotel's music shaped me a lot in my teenage years. I felt as if the music belonged to some mysterious place I might have visited, perhaps in a childhood dream. I listened to them daily. Once, I even had a dream that Jeff Mangum himself visited me and said that he'd be coming to play a show. As luck would have it, Jeff Mangum actually did play a show in my town about a year later.

I've recorded several versions of myself singing this song, but never shared them before. Though this one is not perfect, it is my favorite. I decided to finally put together a little video for it, and leave it to the wind.

If it finds you, I hope you feel just like that friend chilling after school while another friend plays you simple songs on a hand-me-down guitar.