(Fans of the filmFriends with Benefitsmay remember it as acentral plot point.)
“People just slowly realized that they hadn’t seen us touring and we weren’t doing anything.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: A few years ago, Semisonic played gigs for the anniversary of theFeeling Strangely Finealbum.
Credit: Michael Kovac/WireImage
Was that the catalyst for this reunion and EP?
DAN WILSON:At the time of those gigs, we were already starting to cook up these songs.
We were starting to feel like they sounded like the band and we were getting excited.
That was the beginning of this new phase.
When did you decide to make it official?
We ghosted the world.
I think John might’ve hinted about new music during some interview we did a couple of years ago.
Not to seem ungrateful but why an EP?
Why only five songs?
But the other ones are.
And that feels really great to me.
I’m slowly cooking up some new ones.
I still feel pretty inspired to do more music.
Immediately afterwards you hear, “When is the next one?”
it’s less daunting.
No pressure.[Laughs]Yeah.
I’m playing it big time.
I’m really glad you say it’s so obvious that they’re Semisonic songs.
I think I’m almost over-determined to make that happen.
I’ve got no chip on my shoulder about updating Semisonic.
It helps keep that clarity: “Oh yeah, I know this, this is those guys.”
But you did not write them recently.
I found the film and her as a person to be extremely inspiring.
I just wrote the song in response to that sense of being made better by someone else.
That feeling is not connected to any particular time.
When I was working on “You’re Not Alone,” it was probably 2018.
Even though the names have changed, the reason for marching remains the same.
They are also the musical manifestation of the simple concept of think global, act local.
And it helps that they are catchy.
It does help that they’re good musically, but I really don’t like preachy sounding songs.
Also you’ve got to have the right voice to preach and I don’t.
I’ve been asked at various times, why don’t you write more political songs?
Sometimes people have said, “Where’s the anger in your songs?”
It just sounds preachy."
I don’t want to tell anyone how to feel.
I just want to say how I feel.
But that was going to be obvious.
My guys would tell you that.
And I know that’s a reaction a lot of musicians have.
They feel like their hit is like a boulder that’s hanging around their neck or something.
But I never have felt that way.
My lawyer told me when he first heard it, “Congratulations.
You’ve finally written something dumb enough to be a hit.”
And I argued with him.
I was like, “This isn’t dumb.”
And he goes, “It’s dumb.
Come on, admit it.
It’s dumb.”
And I said, “No, it’s not.
It’s a really good song.”
He was essentially calling one of the momentous events of your life dumb.
And I didn’t really want to argue that point with anybody.
So, it was very funny that I would fight back against it.
He was trying to praise me, but it was a little bit ass-backwards.
Maybe you should sit down."
I was talking with my 13-year-old about this.
She had just seen a thing about a one-hit wonder on the internet.
And she named a bunch of our songs that she perceives to be hits.
But she lives here, you know?
Indeed, you’ve experienced several hits with other folks.
That is a very you song but it is clearly her story.
Are you sort of the doula in these situations?
Adele has joked that I had her on her knees weeping.
And Adele can pick and choose from music history.
She’s a brilliant filter for ideas.
And it all goes into the mill of her own sensibility.
But when we were working in some of her suggestions, I definitely heard echoes of Semisonic songs.
I know where that comes from and everyone’s going to think that I thought of it."
It goes back to even more.
There’s another mirror in this house of mirrors.
It was also real turning point song for him.
How did this one piece together?
So, we really, really went for it, and got very grand.
We put a lot of heart into it.
It kept popping up and getting re-recorded.
So, everyone knew there was something there.
Because what they did was not wrong.
I think the strength and doubling down boldness about that is impressive.
But I think that’s why the song hasn’t floated away into the past.
What is your reaction now when you hear it?
When I hear it, I am completely focused on Natalie’s gift.
I am completely focused on the immediacy of her voice and her presence as a human being.
What was that process like, working with them again but also producer Jack Antonoff?
That was interesting because that was kind of a long and winding road.
And when she came back, she said “Remember that other song we were working on?
Maybe we could put them together.”
I think part of my role was just being helpful in the process of hybridizing the two songs.
As obliquely as I was involved in the record, I feel extremely happy to be part of it.
I just seem to have this tendency to be involved in songs that speak to the moment.
