CD Review: Semisonic

Semisonic: Move from indie to slick, airbrushed grooves

By the BBC's Nigel Packer

Minneapolis trio Semisonic were transformed from indie also-rans into mainstream contenders with the release of second album Feeling Strangely Fine.

Now they look to build on this radio-friendly success with All About Chemistry - an album of such unremitting blandness it makes Foreigner sound like The Sex Pistols.

Signs of their former status as self-styled "indie rockers" are impossible to spot inside its slick, airbrushed grooves - and the cumulative effect is like being trapped inside a soft drinks commercial.

The lyrics alone are enough to invite a visit from the cliché police, as we enter a world of "late-night highways" and "California waves".

Mind you, with titles like She's Got My Number and One True Love, we can't say we weren't warned.

Sprawling

Opening track Chemistry is the pick of an underwhelming bunch, with its sprightly tune and rueful tone, although elsewhere the chugging guitars take a back seat to a smoother, keyboard-washed sound.

Act Naturally is a drippy piano-led ballad, while I Wish is a sprawling love song with the most over-the-top lyrics this side of a Meatloaf album.

"I can try to please you/Get down on my knees for you/Go outside and freeze for you/Swim the high seas for you," sings frontman Dan Wilson in his curiously passionless voice.

Semi-conscious

Apparently he's also "climbing the trees for you" and "twisting in the breeze for you," although sadly the story ends before we get to the arrival of the men in white coats.

Carole King co-wrote the introspective One True Love, which - title aside - has a hint of originality lacking elsewhere.

The overly-polished Bed and Girlfriend are among the more obvious contenders for hit singles - yet however much the band aim for the big catchy melody there are no obvious successors to songs such as Closing Time and Secret Smile.

The sound and budget may have swollen considerably since those not-so-far-off days, but something is clearly lacking on an album which is not so much Semisonic as semi-conscious.