Semisonic
Great Divide (MCA)
by Marc Hirsh
Semisonic
Great Divide (MCA)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in the Public News, ???, 1996
While most good bands progress over the course of a few albums, Semisonic are the first band I've come across that actually improves over the course of a single album. Each song on Great Divide not only builds up to the next, it adds weight to the earlier songs as well, so that the opening "F.N.T." makes more sense by the time all the other songs have had their say.
It's not as though the trip from start to finish is initially bumpy, however. Each song is a delight to hear, from the quasi-R&B groove of "Temptation" to the Beatles-cum-Smashing-Pumkins epic "The Prize" to the Crowded House-style rocker "Across The Great Divide." Everybody sings, resulting in harmonies that propel the choruses, which in turn propel the songs. Each part of the songs feed off each other, just as the songs themselves do.
The trio of ballads toward the end are the best of the batch. "No One Else" and the closing "I'll Feel For You" avoid excessive sentimentality by providing an ideal backdrop for leader Dan Wilson's smooth baritone, presented here as a male equivalent to Margot Timmins. Wilson is generous enough to hand over the microphone to bassist John Munson for "In Another Life," who rises to the occasion by adding his thin but oddly satisfying voice to the announcement of resignation.
Everything about Great Divide is a perfect fit. Paul Fox's production turns the music into a completed jigsaw puzzle, where each belongs in one place and one place only. The result is a flawless album of its kind, one that gets better with each listen.