Review taken from http://www.powerpop.org/shakeitup/reviews/semisonic.htm
Feeling Strangely Fine - (UNI/MCA)
The melodic rock of Semisonic may very well be just what the tired format of alternative rock radio needs to spice things up a bit. Having their tunefulness nestled comfortably behind thick guitar chords and crashing drums, Semisonic are a band that really must be heard more than once. On first listen, it may sound like there is not much there. However, Feeling Strangely Fine is the kind of CD that reveals more and more with every listen.
On Feeling Strangely Fine, Semisonic closely embrace a more delicate approach to their arranging and writing, often combining thunderous crashes and airy textures within the same song. The simple, haunting piano of the solid opening Closing Time is one such example. Here, a definite mood is created and then shattered with a bang while still maintaining a consistency. Never You Mind features a similar contradiction, with an almost ragtime piano colliding with a bass heavy rhythm throughout. Again, the effect works beautifully.
When Semisonic commit themselves to a harder rock sound, they do it sincerely enough as in still-melodic This Will Be My Year. The band introduces a funkier sound to Completely Pleased, a track which should get much airplay in a just world.
What makes Feeling Strangely Fine special, though, are the delicate touches throughout. The simple keyboards on Singing In My Sleep, for example. The sparse arrangement of Gone To The Movies is another track that benefits from a more subdued approach, letting a string arrangement complement a very pretty melody.
She Spreads Her Wings takes the combination and presents it in a more traditional ballad form. On yet another track featuring strings, DND also uses them with a slide guitar accompaniment. Normally, this would be John Cale territory, but Semisonic keeps the melody first and foremost. The only place where this falters is on Secret Smile with its lackluster vocal arrangement and Eagles-like quality - an almost tragic contrast to the rest of the lighter tracks here.
Still, it takes more than that to dismiss Feeling Strangely Fine as anything less than a success in many ways. I'm hoping that Semisonic further embraces these new emphases. That would make for a promising future, indeed.
Ron Keevor
