In the years since Semisonic went on hiatus, lead singer/songwriter Dan Wilson has written for practically everyone. His songcraft appears on albums by Mitski, Manchester Orchestra and Meghan Trainor, all within the last two years. Wilson has become a machine by providing his charming, mild affect to almost anyone, helping create a new generation of adult contemporary heroes in the process. Sometimes, he finds himself co-writing some of the most iconic songs of the 21st century and, sometimes, he comes up short. He’s a Grammy winner for co-writing Adele’s “Someone Like You” but he’s also a frequent writer for Josh Groban. He’s popped up on good albums by Weezer, Spoon and Chris Stapleton along the way. His songwriting discography is a real “You win some, you lose some” situation.
Wilson’s chameleon abilities has kept him busy in the last two decades, but he’s always had a joyful corniness that his hired-gun material loses along the way. As the frontman of Semisonic, Wilson relished earnestness and goofiness as a necessary ingredient. The home album of “Closing Time”—the source of the band’s one-hit-wonder identity—Feeling Strangely Fine combined earnest love songs about mixtapes (“Singing In My Sleep), wah-wah’d-out electric guitars on songs about oral sex (“Completely Pleased”), hard-hitting piano rock (“All Worked Out”) and more to become a grocery store pop rock classic. 2001’s “Get a Grip,” an astounding and surprisingly enjoyable song about pleasuring yourself, appears one song after a Carole King co-writer credit on their last pre-hiatus album, All About Chemistry.
After 22 years, Wilson, bassist John Munson and drummer Jacob Slichter announced that the first Semisonic album in 22 years, Little Bit of Sun, was soon to arrive. Outfitted with a more acoustic guitar-driven sound and appearances from Jason Isbell and Jim James, Wilson and co. are trying to tell us that Semisonic are not a one-hit-wonder or a childish pop rock trio. In the album’s press release, Wilson said that “writing for Semisonic is actually all about writing for John and Jacob’s rhythm section,” a realization that re-energized his love for the band. But Little Bit of Sun is the sound of Semisonic growing up and losing their humor.
It makes sense that the generic positive thinking of the title-track opens the record. It’s a mission statement for an album with no real sense of drive. “Little Bit of Sun” gleams immediately, with acoustic guitars that are so pristine that they completely lack personality. “Come rescue me because I’m all alone / And I can’t fight this darkness on my own,” sings Wilson, as if the real lyrics were supposed to be filled in later. The plodding “All The Time” suffers from the same symptoms, with stodgy lines like “My love, you can be cruel sometimes / Turn around and be so kind.” Wilson’s cliché one-liners used to be backed up by crunchy guitars or pounded pianos, not the synthesized strings of “Only Empathy” or Wilson’s vocals, which are often touched up with so much reverb that they become ghastly here.
For an album that’s preoccupied with pat optimism, there isn’t an exciting future being presented on Little Bit of Sun. In fact, the highlights here are occupied with the past. On “Grow Your Own,” Wilson thinks back to when rock and roll “made [him] lose control” or a time when Aimee Mann said that she listened to Semisonic. The laidback electric guitar groove and light backing vocals—both complete with just the slightest bit of snarl—help sell Wilson’s clichés about the power of rock and roll. It seems like he and the band start to buy into that mythos on “Out of the Dirt”—co-written by Lori McKenna—which hangs out in generic roots rock territory but avoids being head-smackingly obvious. At least they attempt a guitar solo.
“The Rope” is Little Bit of Sun’s singular exciting left turn, a power pop rager where Wilson’s lyrics are contradictory and gripping, and the guitars have some pep behind them and they borrow the tone of 2001’s “Chemistry.” This might be thanks to co-writer Yves Rothman, who has worked with indie talents Bartees Strange, girl in red and Blondshell, but Semisonic has always done well with an upbeat pop rock tune. When horns and harmonies unexpectedly hit the second chorus, “The Rope” has a genuine sense of excitement. More importantly, those power chords and saxophone hits lend the song the corniness that this album needed a lot more of. No one ever wanted Semisonic to sound as self-serious as they do on Little Bit of Sun, especially after 20 years.
Ethan Beck is a writer from Pittsburgh who lives in Brooklyn. His work can be found at Bandcamp Daily, Paste Magazine, Washington Square News and others.
