Written by: Alex Green

Indie legends Neutral Milk Hotel have been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Formed in Louisiana at the end of the ’80s, the band moved to Denver and later New York, and went on to become not only critical darlings, but the source of endless fascination due to singer Jeff Mangum’s elusive Salinger-like persona.

Neutral Milk Hotel have been nominated in the category of Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for their sprawling and comprehensive set, The Collected Works Of Neutral Milk Hotel.

Art directors for the project Daniel Murphy, Mark Ohe, and Mangum received the nomination.

According to a press release from the band’s label Merge Records, the boxed set has been described as, “A massive undertaking, The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel features the updated, 2-LP gatefold edition of On Avery Island, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, a 12-inch picture disc of the fan favorite Live at Jittery Joe’s live album, the Everything Is and Ferris Wheel on Fire 10-inch EPs, three 7-inches (“Little Birds [Live]” b/w “Little Birds [Demo],” “Holland, 1945” b/w “Engine,” and “You’ve Passed” b/w “Where You’ll Find Me Now”) and two 24” x 24” posters, all lovingly housed in a two-piece telescoping casewrapped box, assembling the treasures that have floated around in the musical ether since the 1998 release of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The box set also marks the first official release of “Little Birds,” as well as the expanded reissue of Everything Is.”