Mangum doubts third album

During the hiatus, Mangum occasionally worked on some projects, but nothing was widely publicized. When asked about a third Neutral Milk Hotel album in a 2002 interview, Mangum said: “I don’t know. It would be nice, but sometimes I kind of doubt it.” Although Neutral Milk Hotel did not officially break up, the other band members worked on music with other Elephant 6 bands such as Bablicon , the Gerbils , A Hawk and a Hacksaw , and the Music Tapes . Koster notes how he and the other band members initially thought the hiatus would be a short break to focus on their other musical projects. Koster recounted: “The fact that Neutral Milk wasn’t doing something just felt natural, because so much else was happening, and we had just done so much. It didn’t feel unusual at all. I suspected nothing.”