News
“Red Light” – Official Music Video
My new release is “Red Light,” from the Dancing on the Moon EP. The song is about three things: 1) the day I found out that the master tapes of my two bands Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic had burned in the infamous Universal Music fire (the red light of the fire seen from the clouds); 2) my love for recording on tape despite #1 (thus the red light of the title); and 3) my Mom’s memory loss – almost as though her master tapes are being gradually erased. In the video, the ghosts of all these vanishing things are played by a yellow 1971 Ford Mustang and my daughter in a ghost costume in the passenger seat. Hope you love it. Directed by Yazz alali and edited by Sara Mulford. Shout out to Ethan Gruska and Jenny Owen Youngs for writing the song with me, and Ethan and John Mark Nelson for producing it with me.
Dancing On The Moon EP out now!
New Single – “Dancing On The Moon” – Official Music Video
My new single, “Dancing On The Moon” is out today!
I wrote the chorus at my piano, and it felt like a found object, like something I saw on the sidewalk and picked up. To me, it really does sound like a couple, marooned on a distant moon, trying to make contact with someone – anyone – and dancing under the super-lonely stars.
New Single – “On The Floor” (Perfume Genius Cover)
I’ve loved this Perfume Genius song since the first time I heard it. The more I listened, the more I loved it. When 2021 came to an end, it was one of a handful of songs at the very top of my “most listened” list – up there with “Go Easy, Kid” by Monica Martin and “Doin’ It” by Herbie Hancock. Good company. So I cut a version of it for my “Dancing on the Moon” EP. The EP is out in the fall, but this one is out now! I wish I’d written it myself.
Introducing: The Words + Music in 6 Seconds Deck by Dan Wilson
I’m really excited to announce this: The Words + Music in 6 Seconds deck! A compact and beautiful deck of cards, designed to be a creative tool for people in any creative field.
New Single – “Under The Circumstances”
I wrote “Under the Circumstances” a few months back in a moment of both deep pandemic dread and interpersonal conflict. I was feeling so mad at someone in my life, and I suddenly remembered the dire and bizarre situation we all were trapped in, and I just wanted to make peace with them. And the song came from that. Listen here.
New Semisonic EP, You’re Not Alone, out now!
The new Semisonic EP, “You’re Not Alone,” is now out! Being in this band with John Munson and Jake Slichter is an ongoing high point of my musical life. We’ve been all over the world together and we still love to hang out. What more could I ask for? I’m so happy about how these songs turned out. I felt like they HAD TO be great – and now you can be the judge of whether they are :) (Go ahead and let me know if I’m following my own advice or not…) We got a lot of help along the way but special shout out to Jenny Owen Youngs, Mike Viola and Richard Walters for writing some of the songs with me! Stream/buy here.
New Semisonic Single – “All It Would Take”
I feel that in each of our lives, there is the possibility of meeting that one person who will change the way we see everything, a person who will give us a sense of new meaning, a mission, a passion. “All it Would Take” is our song for that moment, that person, that one voice that can change the world within you. Then you can turn outward and begin to change the world around you, too.
Listen/Buy ‘All It Would Take’
Watch the lyric video on VEVO for ‘All It Would Take’
Pre-save the new EP, out this fall
New Semisonic Single – “You’re Not Alone”
I wrote ‘You’re Not Alone’ 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. We recorded the song last year and I’m really happy that it’s now coming out. It’s Semisonic’s first new song in 20 years. Coincidentally, the song is coming out when both a global pandemic and racial justice protests are compelling us to reimagine and rebuild our relationships to each other and the communities we live in. All against a backdrop of isolation, despair, and hope. Just as I felt when I first wrote it, I hope this song will communicate a sense of connection, an awareness that we’re not alone.
Listen/Buy ‘You’re Not Alone’
Pre-save the new EP, out this fall
New Single – “Try Love”
Here’s my new single, “Try Love.” Nobody needs to be pitched on trying love, we try it again and again, no matter how rough it gets. Still, like the song says, if you really want to go through a lot, you can always try love. Listen here.