The band's music has been described as having some similarities to Velvet Underground, Galaxie 500 and Yo La Tengo "without sounding like anything else.
Simon Shaw and Michael McGaughrin of the band V-Twin joined Hogarty and Walker, and played the bass and drums, respectively.
National Park's first single, "Great Western", was a 10" released on Earworm records; a ten-minute-long improvisation.
Scott Walker left the band in 1999, and was replaced briefly by Alasdair Roberts (of Appendix Out) and later by Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub.
In 2005 National Park released "The Only Stars" in Japan, which featured contributions by Bill Wells (piano), Sarah Martin (flute) and Mick Cooke (horn) of Belle and Sebastian.