The Apartments - That's What the Music Is For (2025) (Hi-Res)

The Apartments present their eighth album, That’s What the Music Is For, made in close collaboration with producer Tim Kevin. Recorded gradually between performances across Mexico City, Sydney, San Francisco, Lisbon, and Marseilles, the songs were built piece by piece in the studio whenever the chance arose. Out of this slow accumulation came an album that traces how past and present constantly exchange places, and how those we’ve lost continue to move through our lives in memory and in song. Peter Milton Walsh describes the record as “a world of smoke, gin, and regrets; of melancholy, brass, and strings. Life as it comes to us, with its share of joy and sorrow.” These compositions carry both intimacy and scale, refinement and rawness, telling stories that stay with the listener long after they end. Walsh is joined by Tim Kevin, Nick Kennedy, Adrian Workman, Natasha Penot, Jeff Crawley, Neysa May Barnett, Pauline Drand, and Xavier Guéant-Mata, whose contributions enrich the luminous atmosphere of the album.

Working closely with producer Tim Kevin, That's What the Music Is For is The Apartments' eighth album. Peter Milton Walsh began recording it in 2023 like a master pointillist, one touch at a time, one song at a time. In between shows that took him from Mexico City, Sydney or San Francisco to Lisbon and Marseilles, Walsh had access to studio time without real constraints. Talking about That's What the Music is For, he says: "Since I didn't go into the studio with an album ready set of songs, but instead took pieces in to record as soon as they were written and worked on the music in the studio whenever it was available, it wasn't clear that I'd get to that rainbow's end-a world of songs that feel like they belong together: an album. Yet, over the course of recording and as the songs gathered with one another, they began to reveal a story about time-of how past and present so often trade places and that in music and in memory, the people who have gone keep moving in and out of our lives-where can they live now, except in song? We will be saying goodbye to them in bits and pieces for the rest of our lives. A world of smoke, gin, and regrets; one of melancholy, brass, and strings. A world of refinement and integrity. Life as it comes to us, with its share of joy and sorrow. Peter Milton Walsh's compositions are true songs in that they tell stories, stories that stay with us, stories we can each finish in our own way. That may well be the essence of great art. The Apartments (named after Billy Wilder's film The Apartment, a gentle melodrama and brilliant satire of American society) emerged in Brisbane, Australia, in spring 1978. Peter Milton Walsh also worked with The Go-Betweens when they signed to Beserkley Records, before leaving Australia for New York and later London. He joined the British label Rough Trade and released his debut studio album in 1985, The Evening Visits….and Stays For Years - a treasure trove of luminous melancholy. drift (1992), the second album originally released on Torn & Frayed/New Rose (reissued by Talitres), is a collection of unclassifiable gems, a timeless masterpiece. A Life Full of Farewells (1995), Fete Foraine (1996), and apart (1997) followed, cementing Peter Milton Walsh's place among the finest songwriters. After a long hiatus, a period of mourning and farewells, The Apartments returned in 2012 with Seven Songs (a radio session recorded for France Musique) and an unexpected new album, No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal (2015). Then came the live album Live at L'Ubu in 2019, followed by In & Out of The Light in 2021, an album of infinite delicacy painted in light and shadow. That's What the Music Is For was recorded by Peter Milton Walsh (vocals, guitar, organ, piano, bass) with the collaboration of Tim Kevin (guitar, percussion, piano, melodica, backing vocals), Nick Kennedy (drums, maracas), Adrian Workman (bass), Natasha Penot (vocals), Jeff Crawley (trumpet), Neysa May Barnett (vocals), Pauline Drand (guitar), and Xavier Gueant-Mata (guitar). The Apartments will tour Europe in spring 2026.

Tracklist
01. It's a Casino Life (4:24)
02. Afternoons (4:58)
03. A Handful of Tomorrow (4:12)
04. Another Sun Gone Down (4:22)
05. That's What the Music Is for (When the Fair's Over) (4:00)
06. Death Would Be My Best Career Move (3:12)
07. The American Resistance (2:36)
08. You Know We're Not Supposed to Feel This Way (6:09)