Remember the song “Closing Time”? The band was Semisonic and that song was MASSIVE for them in the late 90s. Now, thanks to a new Rolling Stone magazine interview with singer Dan Wilson, we know that they are eye’ing a comeback.

There’s a new EP on the way (September 18 ’20), their first new music since 2001 and Wilson says songwriting is all about being in the right headspace, “[I would try to write a Semisonic song and it] would either not be great, or be good but not sound like the band. I just didn’t have a handle on how to sound like Semisonic and have it be good enough of a song. I used to think it was maybe something like what Robert Plant used to say — that he doesn’t know how to be that guy in Led Zeppelin anymore, so he just ain’t doing it.”

The band released a taste of the new music this past Friday (June 26) with a song called “You’re Not Alone”:

Said Nelson of the song, “When I wrote it, a lot of people around me were feeling despair about our country and the state of the nation. A lot of people I knew were feeling like things were going to hell in a big hurry. And that was an inspiration for the song.”

While Semisonic has been relatively quiet over the years, Nelson has remained active, having written or co-written songs for Taylor Swift (“Treacherous”), Halsey (“Alone”), Adele (three songs on 21, including “Someone Like You”) and The Dixie Chicks multiple songs on Taking the Long Way, including “Not Ready to Make Nice” and “Easy Silence”).

This new Semisonic EP was recorded in an L.A. studio a few months before COVID-19 locked the world down.

The question is, how will the world receive it? I didn’t mind the new song and look forward to hearing the rest of the EP. Again, out September 18th.

Written by Todd Hancock

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