While working on the forthcoming Semisonic [ tickets ] album "All About Chemistry," Grammy nominee Dan Wilson thinks he discovered the secret to writing a heart-wrenching tale about loving someone who is unappreciative and unforgiving.

"I kind of developed this theory during the recording of this album that at least half of the world's angry, 'You've done me wrong/I try so hard/It's never enough for you' songs were actually written by parents of 2-year-olds," Wilson said jokingly. The singer-guitarist is the father of a 2-year-old daughter.

"It's all [about] the thanklessness of a relationship where one person is completely selfish and the other one has to keep giving and giving. That's a great subject for a song, but no one ever mentioned in the song that it's actually about a 2-year-old."

There are no songs about children on "All About Chemistry," due in stores March 6, but the album shows a different side to the Minneapolis trio--lyrically and musically. The band has made a name for itself by offering sprightly pop gems like "Closing Time" and "Singing in My Sleep," but the new record is a bit darker.

"I kind of felt comfortable writing a few things that might sort of make me look like more of a jerk than a good guy, I suppose," Wilson said with a laugh.

For example, "Bed" tells the story of a man who's more interested in sex than a relationship--a far cry from the "boy meets girl and falls in love" for which Wilson has become known. In it, he sings: "If you feel like I'm asking you for too much/We can keep in touch/And I'll find someone else to bed." "One True Love" is the lyrical opposite: "All through the party/I want to leave/All alone with one true love."

"'Bed,' it's a little bit obnoxious. It's obviously an empty threat, but it's kind of obnoxious in a way--that's a weird way to put it. It sort of shows a range of emotions that might be sometimes darker, that are still true to who I am as a person."

"Act Naturally" is a new twist on the tired story of an arguing couple. In the song, a man urges his upset girlfriend to keep a cheerful façade as the two head out. Wilson explained that there are a few inspirations for "Act Naturally."

"I have a couple images in my mind: I have an image of a couple that has a fight, and then time runs out and you have to go to a party. They have to get ready while they're still fighting, they get in the car, they go to the party, they're with all their friends, and they haven't been able to finish their fight. I also have an image of someone that I know pretty well, who got pregnant in school, unmarried, and they didn't know what to do about telling anybody.

"Another thing that about 'Act Naturally' that sort of relates to my own life is that my daughter was really sick for a long time. There were times when I'd be talking to someone, and they'd be imparting some important information to me--I'd be pretending to listen, and in mind, going round and round in circles, is just this sort of dread and care. That sense of 'act naturally.' It's almost like you can't be falling apart all the time, even if things are falling apart."

The soaring ballad "I Wish"--in which Wilson sings "If I could only be somebody else/I wouldn't be myself/And maybe you'd want me"--is another song that would have been out-of-place on Semisonic's 1998 album, the generally upbeat "Feeling Strangely Fine."

"I'm really proud of 'I Wish,' but it's really a sad song. That's not something I would have put on 'Feeling Strangely Fine.' The guy who mixed it, Tom Lord-Alge, said it was 'glorious,' which I think is a really good word to describe it."

Semisonic's 1998 album "Feeling Strangely Fine" featured the Carole King-inspired piano pop song "Never You Mind." On the new album, Wilson collaborated with King on the song "One True Love." The collaboration came together after Wilson put the word out that he was looking to work with someone "outside of the modern-rock kind of world."

According to Wilson, "... For Carole King to be the person that emerged from that remark is unthinkably amazing. She's very cool. She's very gracious, really smart and really quick. Musically, you start an idea [and] she already kind of knows where you're going. She's got that very, very sharp musical mind."

Musical tips aside, Wilson learned from King about "grace" and the ability to put people at ease.

"I could just sense that she's been in rooms with people who are just completely nervous to meet her all her career. She had a wonderful, wonderful way of diffusing that and making everybody comfortable without any kind of false modesty. I thought that was a really gracious, amazing character trait. It seems like a virtue."

The collaboration also proved to him how much of an influence the singer has had on him.

"I didn't think of Carole King at all when we were doing 'Never You Mind.' I never would have guessed how many of my tricks I had stolen from her until we actually worked together and it just became very obvious how much of an influence she is."

"All About Chemistry" was recorded over a 40-week period at different homes in Minneapolis, a "hallway in a warehouse," a studio and the group's rehearsal space. "[The album] took longer," Wilson said, "but it was very, very liberating to not have to go to a particular place but to just choose every day where we wanted to go.

"I would finish writing a song and we would start recording it right then, as soon as we could. It's much better that way. To be honest, it's not very economical. That's why most people don't do it. It's much better to bang everything out in a row--drums, bass, guitar, vocals and you're done. I felt like we had to take our time to make sure that it turned out right."