Song(s) of the Day # 2,439 The Apartments

Brisbanite Peter Milton Welsh formed The Apartments in the late Seventies. Shortly afterwards he was asked to, and joined The Go Betweens. Whatever the reason, it didn't work out and he went back to The Apartments. They've been releasing records intermittently ever since.

In and Out of the Light, their latest and first in five years is just out. To call it elegiac is not doing the description justice. Look up the word in a dictionary and you will more than likely find a picture of the album sleeve next to the word. It's the kind of record you might expect a gifted songwriter who knows his craft to put out in his sixties.  It's veined throughout with the knowledge that there's more behind than ahead than there is to come.

Unmistakably reminiscent of late Go Betweens, many of the songs here sound like the kind of gifts we'd be getting from Grant McLennan if he hadn't been so cruelly taken from us. Probably a deciding factor on how you relate to this is Milton Welsh's voice. It's wobbly and vulnerable and that occasionally makes listening to the tracks here slightly painful. The fact that the songs and the arrangements here are so damned good may ease the distress of the listening experience.

In and Out of the Light is an album that's comfortable in its easy chair. It's a record to relish and learn from and will encourage me to explore the band's back catalogue over the coming weeks. For now, this will more than do.