Shortly after getting off the road from touring behind Great Divide (some would say too shortly!) Dan called Jake and John up and told them he had a batch of new songs he wanted to show them. The band got together down in John's basement with soundman Brad Kern, and with a couple of mics hung from the pipes overhead, they heard/recorded Dan singing and playing about a dozen new songs. Among these songs were "Closing Time", "Made to Last", and "California".

Over the next couple of weeks Dan wrote another thirty or forty songs and, inspired by his example, John and Jake put together twenty or so of their own.

Suddenly and unexpectedly sitting on a trove of over 60 new songs, the guys started to feel that it was time to make a new cd. They began planning an unorthodox method of recording. First, it would involve recording no demotapes beyond simple guitar and vocal basement sketches. Instead the album versions would be the first band recordings of the songs. The guys thought this would result in greater spontanaeity and soul in the studio. Second, there would be no deadline for the finished masters -- "we'll know when we're done", they announced. Finally, the trio wanted to create tracks for the album in various hi- and lo-tech settings around Minneapolis, and use their computers to graft the different worlds together. Waving these three flags, John, Jake and Dan decided to move operations to an abandoned antique store in downtown Minneapolis that they thought could be a cool place to record some of the new material. As even more songs brewed, calls were made to the record company, and flags were waved.

Meanwhile, two doors down from the antique store/rehearsal studio a different kind of musical odyssey was going down. A brand new studio was being built with an emphasis on flavor and vibes. Seedy Underbelly, as it's called, was going to be finished right about the time Semisonic figured they'd be ready to record.

The last ingredient was to find a producer who was willing to work with a band unwilling to make full-fledged demos of the songs they were writing, and who furthermore insisted on being allowed to take as long as necessary to complete the record to their satisfaction. Nick Launay fit the bill to an unconventional "t."

Nick arrived in Minneapolis in April 97 and a week later the last wires were laid and the last boards nailed in place at Seedy Underbelly. Half the band's stuff was moved to the new studio two doors down and the rest was left in the antique store, which became the "b room" for time-consuming sampling experiments, string arranging, crazy concoctions and whatever else the band members and Brad Kern could cook up.

The band recorded over twenty songs during the ensuing four months and then cut the list down to the sixteen which turned out best. They took those tapes out to Bob Clearmountain's studio in California, mixed them down and then distilled the list down to the twelve which made the best record.

Two videos have been made for Feeling Strangely Fine so far, one for Closing Time and one for Singing In My Sleep.