The song Breathless became a big hit in Greece (and other Balkan countries ) and Dan Wilson performed it at the 2009 MAD Video Music Awards.
Semisonic closing time acapella free#
For anyone worried that songcraft is an endangered species, Free Life should ease those fears." Club writing, "the star of the show here is Wilson's remarkable instinct for creating gorgeous songs, and his unabashed, obvious joy in doing so. Produced with Rick Rubin, Free Life was recorded in Minneapolis and Los Angeles and includes performances by Tracy Bonham, Sheryl Crow, Jason Lader, Gary Louris, Natalie Maines, Benmont Tench, and a number of Minneapolis-based musicians including multi-instrumentalist and frequent Semisonic sideman Ken Chastain, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson, Joanna James, Mason Jennings, Steve Rhoem, Joe Savage, as well as Wilson's Semisonic bandmates Munson and Slichter.įree Life helped establish Wilson's reputation as a songwriter, with The A.V. Wilson's solo debut, Free Life, was released in 2007 by American Recordings. On June 26, 2020, Semisonic released their first single in nearly 20 years titled " You're Not Alone," followed by an EP of the same name on September 18, 2020.Īs a solo artist Free Life Slichter's memoir, So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, provides a detailed account of the band's adventures and misadventures in the music business. Semisonic stopped touring in August 2001 but continued to perform on occasion. Semisonic's third album, All About Chemistry, was released in 2001, and featured Wilson's song " Chemistry", the album's first single, and also included "One True Love", a song Wilson co-wrote with Carole King. It was a focal point of the plot and soundtrack of the 2011 film Friends with Benefits. "Closing Time" received a 1999 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song and has become an enduring pop-culture reference point for the late 1990s. Powered by Wilson's songs " Closing Time", which was a number-one hit on the Modern Rock charts for thirteen weeks in the spring and summer of 1998, the follow-up single " Singing in My Sleep", and " Secret Smile", a breakthrough hit for the band internationally, Feeling Strangely Fine attained platinum sales status in the U.S. David Fricke wrote in a year-end Rolling Stone article on the notable albums of 1996, "Great Divide is that rare '96 beast, a record of simple but sparkling modern pop, rattling with power-trio vitality." It was their 1998 release, Feeling Strangely Fine, however, that brought the band to widespread national and then international attention and success. The band's first album, Great Divide, received critical acclaim. Semisonic released one EP, three full-length albums, and one live album. Since Trip Shakespeare's breakup in 1992, Wilson has continued to collaborate with his brother, including the release of two live albums ( Minneapolis 2010 and Minneapolis 2013).Īfter Trip Shakespeare's breakup in 1992, Wilson and Munson joined with drummer Jacob Slichter to form Pleasure, a trio that was later renamed Semisonic. The original three members had already released one record, Applehead Man, and now as a quartet, with Wilson on guitar, piano, sharing lead vocal duties with Matt Wilson-with whom Wilson also co-wrote many of the songs-and Munson, the band released three more albums ( Are You Shakespearienced?, 1988, Gark Records Across the Universe, 1990, A&M Records Lulu, 1991, A&M Records) and one EP ( Volt, 1992, Twin Tone). In 1987, Wilson joined the Minneapolis psychedelic band, Trip Shakespeare, which Matt Wilson had founded with bassist John Munson and drummer Elaine Harris. After college, Wilson pursued his interest in drawing and painting, first in San Francisco and then in Minneapolis. The Wilson brothers played in two bands, Animal Dance and the Love Monsters. While in college, he began collaborating with his brother, singer-songwriter Matt Wilson, who also attended Harvard College. Wilson is an accomplished artist, and won the first Louis Sudler Prize for Outstanding Artistic Talent and Achievement in 1983.
summa cum laude in Visual and Environmental Studies in 1983, while he resided in Dunster House. Wilson attended Harvard University, where he studied visual arts with a focus on printmaking and from which he graduated B.A. 4.9 Film and Soundtracks (as a writer and producer).4.8 Film, TV, and Soundtracks (as a performer).2.4.1 Taking the Long Way – The Dixie Chicks.