This month, I’m jumping into the #APlaceInTheSong challenge from @JukeboxJohnny2. Great songs have that special ability to describe places in a way that makes us feel like we’re right there. Each day, I’ll pick a track that I think accomplishes that feat.

This was one of the first National songs I heard. Boxer still remains one of my favorite albums from the band. Over the last couple of album releases, the band has mellowed out and certainly lived up to the reputation as sad dad rockers. There’s a lot of great songwriting on their latest record, but I miss the more energetic side of the band - and even just some of the great mid-tempo jams like the somewhat underrated track, “Apartment Story”.

In the recent New Yorker magazine article that highlighted the band, bassist Scott Devendorf described his brother Bryan Devendorf’s drumming style as “machine organic”. It’s a perfect summary of the unique percussion style that drives “Apartment Story” and so many National songs. The drumming seems to accentuate the malaise and exhaustion of trying to be social, but then finding comfort in that one person who you can just be yourself with. It’s not among my favorite National songs, but it has everything I love about them.

“Tired and wired, we ruin too easy. Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave.”