Matt Wilson doubles up with new Twilight Hours album, 1998 solo reissue

Twin Cities pop/rock hero Matt Wilson finally has a second album hitting shelves this week by the Twilight Hours, the band he formed in the mid-'00s with his Trip Shakespeare bandmate John Munson. And he couldn't be prouder of it.

"One of the reasons it took so long is because we probably made the record three or four times, really not accepting anything less than great," Wilson said of "Black Beauty," which the Twilight Hours will celebrate Friday at the Turf Club (with openers BB Gun) and Saturday at 7th Street Entry (with Red Daughters; 9 p.m., $15 both nights).

Concurrently, Wilson is also touting a new 180-gram vinyl reissue of what might be the album he's ultimately proudest of: his 1998 solo effort "Burnt, White & Blue," which he recorded about the same time and place that his brother Dan Wilson and Munson made Semisonic's breakthrough album "Feeling Strangely Fine." The record struck a personal tone as Matt struggled with the demise of Trip Shakespeare and an all-out songwriter's block that lasted many years prior.

"Of all the records I've made, that's the one I thought, 'This is my moment,'" Wilson said. Of course, the moment was more Semisonic's, but many local music fans felt Matt's record was equally fine. Such songs as "Descender," "Sun Is Coming" and "Searchers" have lived on in the Twilight Hours' set lists, so it makes sense to tack on the reissue now. "I'd always hoped to get [the album] out there again, and this seemed like the right time," he said.

The new version of the LP includes one bonus track from the original sessions, "No Painkiller," of which Wilson said, "A lot of people who heard it back then thought it was one of the best I had, but I just didn't think it fit the record.'"

Wilson has consistently fit in time for the Twilight Hours in recent years despite a full-time computer job and fatherhood. In that time, the band expanded with a new drummer, Richard Medek, as Steve Roehm (also Munson's New Standards bandmate) moved out from behind the kit to play guitar alongside lead guitarist Jacques Wait and keyboardist Dave Salmela.

"Steve is such musical guy and a lively presence, we felt he was kind of wasted back there, plus Richard is so good at what he does," Wilson explained. The lineup shift also provided an opening for Wilson: "I'm trying to just focus on singing, which is something I've never really done."