Semisonic

It’s not easy hating Semisonic. Anyone who’s ever hung around till last call and watched the Bremmelos lure sailors home with six-packs to go could appreciate “Closing Time,” the somber hit single off the Minneapolis trio’s previous CD. The problem with the group’s latest offering, All About Chemistry, is that it occupies the very same emotional space. You remember that time you were looking at porno mags before high-school gym class and you couldn’t get your erection to go down in order to change into your sweats? That’s what we’re singing about here, and while self-reflection can be a good, wholesome thing, who wants to go there all the time? Apparently, Semisonic do, and this CD, bereft of any serious guitar work, filled with acoustic piano accented by electronic samples ripped off from New Wave bands that never made it, is as good a reason to hate this band as any.