"Apartment Story" is a song by Brooklyn-based indie rock band The National from their fourth studio album, ''

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''. The song was released on November 5, 2007 as the album's second single. The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

is "Mansion on the Hill," originally recorded by

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on his 1982 album '' Nebraska''. The band's cover version was recorded live on January 14, 2006 at the opening night of that year's ''New York Guitar Festival.'' The band performed "Apartment Story" at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's Times Square studio on May 19, 2007 as part of the channel's '' Human Giant'' 24-hour marathon special. The band also performed the song on '' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' on September 26, 2007. In November 2007, '' Q'' featured "Apartment Story" in their list of 50 Essential Downloads. A month later, the song ranked #5 on ''

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s "Top 50 Singles of 2007" list.

Reception

"Apartment Story" received generally positive reviews by music critics. '' Rolling Stone'' writer Rob Sheffield said of the song, " en

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Berninger murmurs, 'We'll stay inside till somebody finds us,' it's both romantic and terrifying, and the drums kick it all the way home." Jamie Harper of

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described the song as "moody but beautiful. Laced with melody, but understated." Tom Milway of ''

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'' said it "hits the listener with another distinctive and expertly performed drum line courtesy of Bryan Devendorf," and called the song "another radio-friendly slice of The National." On the other hand, David Moore of ''

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'' said that "after about ten plays it creates a personality for itself and you start to get it, but ten times is a lot." He added that the song "works much better inside the album than it does a stand alone track." However, Moore did note that as an introduction to the band, "it's a perfect place to start."

Music video

The music video for "Apartment Story" was directed by Banner Gwin, and was released in September 2007. Filmed in the basement of a church a few blocks from Berninger's Brooklyn apartment, the video features the band's friends and family as extras. Berninger said the band "wanted to capture the sweet but awkward vibe of a wedding reception or singles mixer." He described the video as "something between John Hughes and Krzysztof Kieslowski." The video is reminiscent of the ''

'' cover photo, which depicts the band performing at producer Peter Katis's wedding. "Apartment Story" ranked #14 on

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's "50 Best Videos of 2007" list.

Track listing

;UK 7" vinyl (BBQ 407) # "Apartment Story" – 3:44 # "Mansion on the Hill" (Live) – 4:36

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 2007 singles The National (band) songs 2007 songs Beggars Banquet Records singles Songs written by Matt Berninger Songs written by Aaron Dessner