Stream: Semisonic, ‘You’re Not Alone’

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Semisonic (Photo by Steven Cohen)

Minnesota trio Semisonic — yes, the fellows of Grammy-nominated “Closing Time” fame — have released their first song in almost two decades, “You’re Not Alone.” Power chords churning, the song captures the zeitgeist of the political and cultural moment though it was written a couple of years ago.

Songwriter Dan Wilson said the tune was hatched “a couple of years ago at a time when a lot of people, including me, were feeling isolated and despairing about the state of the world and the direction our country was going. … Coincidentally, the song is coming out when both a global pandemic and racial justice protests are compelling us to re-imagine our relationships to each other and the communities we live in. Just as I had hoped when I first wrote it, I hope the song will communicate a sense of connection and comfort, an awareness that we’re not alone.”

The song is the title track to Semisonic’s new EP, coming out Sept. 18. The trio — Wilson, John Munson and Jacob Slichter — released three albums between 1996 and 2001 before parting ways. Wilson went on to become an A-list songwriter in L.A., earning Grammys for his work with the Dixie Chicks and Adele. Munson has played in a host of bands in the Twin Cities and has been music director for American Public Media’s WITS and occasional guest host on Minnesota Public Radio’s “The Current.” And Slichter became writer/commentator for outlets like New York Times and NPR, released the book “So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star” and currently teaches creative nonfiction at Sarah Lawrence. The trio had reunited in 2017 to celebrate the anniversaries of the albums “Great Divide” and “Feeling Strangely Fine.”

“I think these songs have a really important and relevant story to tell,” Munson says.
“They embody this spirit of optimism about the possibility we can offer each other in times of hardship and struggle. I’ve always believed that a Semisonic song is one that gives you hope, one that sends you out into the night happy, one that leaves you feeling more connected to whatever it is that makes you human, and that’s something we need now more than ever.”

||| Stream: “You’re Not Alone”