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The Apartments – In and Out of the Light – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

The Apartments - No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal

Peter Milton Walsh released his first album of new material in 18 years with this release in 2015.  The Apartments always had an exquisite, old fashioned aesthetic, black and white movies, sharp suits, art.  They never seemed particularly Australian.  In 1999 Walsh's young son died of a rare blood disorder and this prompted a lengthy silence.  It seemed to be the end for the band, which would have been understandable until Walsh regrouped as The Apartments in France for a radio session in 2013.

These songs, though at times almost unremittingly sad, demand to be heard.  The opening title track is somewhat reminiscent of Tindersticks, all piano, deftly played electric guitar while Walsh croons his way through it.  An almost Glen Campbell-like lush string part introduces Looking for Another Town, a slice of Go-Betweens on downers.  Black Ribbons, a duet with Natasha Penot almost lets some sunshine in before the desperately sad Twenty One.  Descending piano and guitar accompany Walsh's lament which is one of the songs which addresses the death of his son.  It's not exploitative, instead it comes across as heartfelt and raw.  You'll need to draw breath after listening to it.

The music here is exquisite, probably Walsh's strongest collection of songs.  The brooding piano ballad The House That We Once Lived In is followed by September Skies and Please Don't Say Remember, intelligent indie-pop in a kind of 1980s way.  But the saddest song is saved for last.  The haunting Swap Places again addresses his son's death, Walsh expressing his desire to take the place of his son.  He sings "where's the God in all of this?" over downbeat yet comforting music.  It's lump-in-the-throat stuff. 

A deep and immersive album with songs that burrow deep under the skin.  Fine stuff indeed.

The Apartments - Apart

The Apartments' fourth album, released in 1997, is introduced by the 30 sec piano of Doll Hospial, giving way to the brooding strings that introduce No Hurry, which is taken over by a late 80s style trip-hoppy beat after the first few bars.  It's a pity as Peter Milton Walsh sings as well as he has ever done, making "the days are getting looonnnger" sound kind of ominous.  But the beats don't suit the track, and so it follows across the album.  The chirpy strings, brass and beats of Breakdown In Vera Cruz are way more upbeat than a song entitled as such has any right to be.

The murky Welcome To Walsh World is a welcome change (down) of pace.  Walsh recites a squalid tale of "infatuation, sadism, lust, avarice possess our souls" over brooding, Tindersticks style music, augmented by strings here and there and (mercifully) no beats!  It doesn't quite work, though it's a distinct improvement on what went before.  File under glorious failure?

The rest of the album is, unfortunately, not helped by its production, Friday Rich/Saturday Poor and Cheerleader being a case in point.  World of Liars is more relaxed, dancing around classic soul tune Walk On By while maintaining its independence.  Final track Everything Is Given To Be Taken Away returns the band to their more natural, effortless state, the sound of waking up in the morning and wishing you hadn't.  

Probably the least essential of the Apartments' albums, something of a misstep.

The Apartments - A Life Full of Farewells

The Apartments' third album, released in 1995, showed that very little had changed in the band's world and any passing trends such as grunge, shoegaze, Britpop etc had not rubbed off on them one bit.  Opening with a forlorn trumpet, Things You'll Keep hits that moderately miserable note firm in the solar plexus, all down-strummed guitars and Peter Milton Wash singing about thinking "there was a way out, so you took it" in a generally self-pitying way.

A beautifully sunny guitar pattern opens The Failure of Love Is A Brick Wall, seeing the track fall just on the less sunny side of Lloyd Cole.  You Became My Big Excuse introduces steel guitars courtesy of Tommy Grasso which seem a little incongruous, giving the track a far more country feel than standard issue The Apartments.  Along similar lines to how Red House Painters incorporated steel guitar on Songs For A Blue Guitar.  Rural bungalows, perhaps??  End of Fear is a little more lively, a busy strum introduced by some almost jaunty trumpet as Walsh sings about wanting to "fill you up with laughter".  But it's a plea rather than a promise in the desperate world of The Apartments.  On the other hand Thank You For Making Me Beg evokes the (relatively few) more downbeat moments of David Bowie's early seventies output.

This is exquisite sad bastard music.  The stripped down piano version of Goodbye Train, renamed as the far more specific She Sings To Forget You should be way way too wallowing but it really works as Walsh wrings out every syllable drawing each one out for maximum effect ("you visit all the crummy rooms, stale sweat and old perfumes"... "you're not lost or broken yet, you can't give in").  The final track, a song entitled All The Time In The World is given a fatal twist: "we've got all the time in the world now... how are you gonna kill it?", quite the turn of phrase to convey the overall feel of loneliness.

The Apartments - Drift

You couldn't accuse The Apartments of rushing their follow up to their debut.  Released in 1992, it bears little resemblance to the prevailing sounds of the time, and it certainly doesn't appear that seven years elapsed since their prophetically-titled debut The Evening Visits... And Stays for Years.  The plaintively strummed acoustic guitars of opener The Goodbye Train do build up to a heavier sound than anything on the debut, adding pounding drums and Peter Milton Walsh's electric guitar.  The album does an about turn with the jaunty On Every Corner  and then another with strange ballad Mad Cow which features some gorgeous strings.  These three songs encapsulate where The Apartments were in 1992: melancholy songs, with some exquisite instrumentation and real desperation in Walsh's voice (on Mad Cow).

The band were clearly happy to stretch out a bit more, getting rocky (for them) on Nothing Stops It and the bittersweet sounding Over.  All His Stupid Friends is almost childish in its glorification of another's misery, yet it's backed with wonderfully tasteful music and works beautifully.  Later, Could I Hide Here? is a fine cross pollination of the Smiths and 4AD.

After a while the tracks start to run into each other, because basically the album is a slab of thinly-veiled misery, and it's a mood held right through.  This of course, is a compliment.  Who knew wallowing self-indulgence could be so enjoyable?

The Apartments - the evening visits...and stays for years

The Apartments are an Australian band who released their debut album in 1985.  The opening track Sunset Hotel sets their stall out.  An acoustic guitar backed by piano picks out a blissfully moody Go-Betweens style melody with Peter Milton Walsh warbling melodramatically over it.  A bit of cello introduces Mr Somewhere, a downbeat track which wouldn't have been out of place on any of Lloyd Cole's albums.  What's The Morning For is very much in the vein of the Grant McLennan side of the Go-Betweens, and features some really fine guitar playing.  It's a tremendous opening trio of tracks, however the rest of the album doesn't quite measure up, and Walsh's voice is inclined to get wearing.  That's not to say the rest of the album has no merit, it's just not as good: the dramatic, angst-ridden All The Birthdays features doom-laden brass but is almost cartoon-like in its misery.  Speechless With Tuesday betrays a band who own all The Cure's albums, while the carefree guitar on Cannot Tell The Days Apart evokes the wide-eyed intricacies of early REM.  Lazarus, Lazarus is rockier, but the guitars jangle rather than riff (it WAS 1985).  So a decent album overall, with plenty of appeal for those who enjoy intelligent, moody pop.