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Australian indie band

The Apartments are an Australian indie band formed in 1978 in Brisbane, Queensland. The band split up in 1979 but reformed in 1984 and continued until 1997, with a new version of the band forming in 2007. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, the band has continued to perform and record, with the ninth album and most recent release, In and Out of the Light released in September 2020. Peter Milton Walsh is the band's only constant member.

The Apartments first came together in Brisbane in 1978 with Walsh (guitar, vocals), Michael O'Connell (guitar, vocals), Peter Whitby (bass, vocals) and Peter Martin (drums). The band's name derives from Billy Wilder's 1960 film The Apartment. While in The Apartments, Walsh briefly joined The Go Betweens as guitarist when they were offered an 8 album contract by Beserkley Records. During an interview at the time, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan spoke about Walsh and the "variety of personalities and image" in the Go Betweens. McLennan said "Walsh is night" and Forster "We are day" with McLennan adding "We’re sun, he’s rain." Four years after Grant McLennan's death, Walsh wrote about this period and his friendship with The Go Betweens in a piece entitled "Who will remember your tunes?" When the Beserkley deal fell through, Walsh returned to The Apartments and The Go Betweens resumed as a three piece. The Go Betweens affectionately commemorated Walsh's style and his time with them on the B side of their next single, "Don't Let Him Come Back": "Here he comes, with his twelve o’clock junk who’s that dressed in black? Who’s that in his apartment?" The Apartments' first EP The Return of the Hypnotist was recorded for The Go Betweens' Able Label in May, 1979.

A year later Walsh returned to Australia and reformed the Apartments with a line up including ex Out of Nowhere members, Gary Warner (piano), Joseph Borkowski (bass) and Graeme Beavis (guitar), and Bruce Carrick (drums). The Apartments were joined by guest musicians Clare Kenny (formerly of Orange Juice, bass, vocals), Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl, and Graham Lee of The Triffids. French music critic and biographer of Serge Gainsbourg, Bayon, writing in Libération, drew favourable comparisons to a diverse range of musicians, both contemporary (Cocteau Twins, Felt, Nick Cave) and preceding (Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Alex Chilton). The Evening Visits subsequently appeared in the NMEs 1985 'Albums of the Year' end of year critic list and became a cult hit in France. "All You Wanted" was reissued by Rough Trade, the single reaching no. 29 on the UK Independent Chart in 1986. Following an English tour with Everything but the Girl, a new line up emerged that included Jurgen Hobbs (bass), Judy Anderson (piano, organ) and Nick Allum (drums). This incarnation of the band played shows in the UK and Europe and released a single, "The Shyest Time", in 1988. "The Shyest Time" was featured on the soundtrack of John Hughes' movie Some Kind of Wonderful. Subsequent litigation between The Apartments and Hughes' production company over recording prevented the Apartments from releasing new material for nearly 18 months.

With Rough Trade in receivership as the Eighties ended, Walsh left England for Australia. He continued writing and occasional performances as a duet with Amanda Brown of The Go Betweens and as the Apartments with Ed Kuepper. Recordings of both were extensively bootlegged. In 1993, The Apartments recorded Drift, the first Apartments album released in Australia, on Melbourne label Torn & Frayed. Drift was next released in France on New Rose. The album (like its predecessor) achieved high praise in France, Due to its popularity in France, the album was re released and remastered through French indie label Talitres in 2010. A tour of France followed in 1994 with The Apartments consisting of Walsh, two members of Big Heavy Stuff — Eliot Fish (bass, vocals) and Greg Atkinson (guitar, vocals) — and Nick Allum on drums. The Apartments then recorded three more albums in quick succession: A Life Full of Farewells (1995), the acoustic Fête Foraine (1996), and Apart (1997). Rolling Stone reviewer Rob O'Connor described A Life Full of Farewells as "the sort of ornate pop record one usually associates with big budget psychedelia or overstudied Anglo pop. For the most part, Walsh's songs enable listeners to enjoy time spent in places we would usually rather not be." Mojo said "Taken together, 1985's The Evening Visits , 1993's Drift and 1995's A Life Full of Farewells constitute the finest, most distinguished catalogue I've heard in the past decade or so." On the final day of mixing and recording apart Walsh was informed that his young son had been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. After this, Walsh suspended writing and touring for the Apartments to devote his attention to his son, who died two years later in September 1999. Walsh played three shows in France in November 2009. Walsh played with Fish (with two French musicians on some songs) in Chinon, Paris (L'Européen) and Clermont Ferrand. The Apartments were supported by French band 49 Swimming Pools, who, as fans of The Apartments, organised the tour. A French tour for 2012 (It's Not Our World Anymore) was announced via French crowdfunding site Ulule. A series of shows took place in November and December, in art galleries and boutiques in Paris and La Rochelle and in regular music venues in Paris (Bouffes du Nord), Bordeaux, Clermont Ferrand, Nantes, and Allonnes. Walsh played with Amanda Brown, Nick Allum (from the Fatima Mansions), Wayne Connolly (of Knievel), Fabien Tessier and Samuel Léger (of 49 Swimming Pools) and Gaël Riteau. The tour featured the use of photos of Jean Seberg taken on the set of the film À Bout de Souffle by Raymond Cauchetier. In collaboration with Parisian graphic designer Pascal Blua, Cauchetier personally approved Walsh's use of his images, some never before published, as stage backdrops and in promotional material for the tour. During the 2012 It's Not Our World Anymore tour, the Apartments recorded a live session for the Label Pop radio programme on Radio France. This was later released by French label Talitres as a limited edition vinyl LP of 500 copies for Disquaire Day (Record Store Day), Seven Songs, on 20 April 2013. It covers the first seven years of material including the tracks from the first EP The Return of the Hypnotist. Uncut magazine awarded the album 9/10, with Jon Dale writing " Played with quiet grace, the eight chamber pop songs here are alternatively harrowing and redemptive, anchored by loss." In Australia, Noel Mengel said "Loss courses through these songs like blood through the veins Just eight songs, less than 40 minutes of music. But what songs. It’s perfect just as it is." While in Tours, France a video for "Please Don't Say Remember" was made by US Director Paul Harrill. At year's end, French music magazine Magic named No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal no. 1 album of the year, a position never before achieved by an Australian artist. In Australia, ABC Radio National's music show, Inside Sleeve, named "Twenty One" the no. 1 song of 2015. In the US, ex Mojo editor Dave DiMartino made the album his no. 1 in his albums of the year list, saying "The first album of new material in years from Australian Peter Milton Walsh of the Apartments is fantastic, emotionally profound, and maybe the most moving collection of songs I've heard in years. Untouchably great." In September 2016, Riley Records released No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal in Australia and New Zealand. This release includes two exclusive bonus tracks recorded following the April French Tour, "Nobody Like You", and an acoustic version of "Swap Places", featuring the tour trio. A video for the acoustic version of "Swap Places" was also released in September and features the photography of Jérôme Sevrette. In December 2016, Netherlands based label Brandy Alexander released No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal.

The Apartments toured France in 2015 with a full band including French (Penot, Chaperon, Tessier, Riteau), English (Allum) and Australian players (Fish and Walsh) to promote the release of No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal. On New Year's Day 2016 the Apartments played a headline show as part of the Andy Warhol/Weiwei exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. The Apartments then played a sold out show in the Speigeltent at the Sydney Festival in January 2016. In April 2016 The Apartments undertook a nine show Three for the Road French tour as a trio with Antoine Chaperon, Natasha Penot and Walsh, playing Chartres, Saint Lô , Lille, Paris, Amiens, Beaumont, Hyères, Grenoble, and Lyon. Jim Yamouridis, Seb Martel and Fabrice Fabrice Barré supported The Apartments for part of the tour. In July 2016 The Apartments, including Brown, Connolly, Fish, Miro Bukovsky, Clare Moore, and Walsh, played a headline show as part of 'Monet's Garden: The Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris' at the National Gallery of Victoria. During 2017 and 2018 The Apartments / Peter Milton Walsh focused on playing locally in Australia with shows in Sydney and Brisbane before Peter Milton Walsh based himself in the south of France for three months. The 2018 residency in France allowed extensive touring in France, along with shows in London, Rotterdam, Cologne and Lausanne. For these shows, The Apartments consisted of Peter Milton Walsh with long term French collaborators Natasha Penot and Antoine Chaperon. On 11 December 2021, The Apartments played The Great Club in Marrickville. Support was Lindy Morrison and Rob Snarski playing as a duo.

Title Release date Label Notes the evening visits and stays for years 1985 Rough Trade/Virgin France S. A. Reissued in 2015 by Captured Tracks drift 1992 New Rose/Torn & Frayed Reissued 2011, 2017 by Talitres, Riley Records A Life Full of Farewells 1995 Hot fête foraine 1996 Hot Reissued 2017 by Microcultures + Riley Records apart 1997 Hot Seven Songs 2013 Talitres 2013 Disquaire Day / Record Store Day Release No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal 2015 Microcultures/Riley Records Issued in 2016 in Australia by Riley Records with bonus tracks Live at L'Ubu 2019 Talitres/Riley Records 2019 Disquaire Day / Record Store Day Release In And Out of the Light 2020 Talitres seven songs 2022 Talitres/Riley Records Vinyl re issue apart 2023 Talitres/Riley Records Vinyl re issue