Not long ago, for some reason, I found myself popping on This Is Weezer. What a string of anthems they used to have: the song dedicated to “Buddy Holly,” “Island in the Sun” with its animal video, “Say It Ain’t Soooooooooo,” I’ve always loved “I Want You To”… and lately their best-known duo with Best Coast has been making the rounds online.
This Gold Album, which brings back their color-splashed covers, also marks a return to a certain normality after their 2022 EP project, the heavy 2021 album, and the orchestral 2021 release. To record it they brought in Klas Åhlund to shape the sound (the Robyn producer) and Kenneth Blume (the Geese producer). Yet you can’t really hear a strong imprint; it feels more decisive that Patrick Wilson, the drummer, wrote the lead single, or that Rivers Cuomo said he wanted to trust his own instincts in general. They were aiming to make an album that Patrick would like.
In any case, Åhlund wasn’t tapped because of Robyn, but because Cuomo adores the sonic vibe of Ghost’s Meliora (2015) and Impera (2022). But this Gold Album isn’t progressive rock nor metal, either. It’s a return to Weezer’s classic sound, a collection of about three-minute bursts designed to add more hit singles to a discography that already includes twenty releases.
“Say Yes,” with its positive energy and steadily accelerating pace, is the strongest track of the bunch; “Shine Again,” the Wilson-penned tune, leans into that optimistic energy as it sounds more guitar-forward; and the band again confronts the harsh reviews or their standing in the music industry, a topic they’ve touched on across several albums, in “Don’t Make It Weird” and in “CE0.” On the former, Rivers again pokes fun at himself, something he’s always done well (“they call me ‘River,’ but I don’t ‘glide’”), while “CEO” is as self-evident as the title suggests:
“Putting out another 90s anthem
I wish I could make something new
But nobody wants to hear that
They only want the classics.”
We tend to believe it’s true, because aside from the surprising Best Coast viral moment, Weezer hasn’t seemed to land the punch lately, not even with this record that quickly fills with clichés as tired as “The Show Must Go On” or tracks titled “I’m in the Clouds.” Weezer shuns maturity, with lines like “I bought myself a toaster, and I had to scan a QR code,” as if asking, “Who the hell needs a QR code to toast a slice of bread?” (Hoops). The collaboration with Karly Hartzman of Wednesday turned out far nicer.
Like “Go Away,” “We Might as Well Be Strangers” showcases how well Rivers Cuomo handles duets with female voices. It might be because he has always had an affinity for the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s… and this track even nods to Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious (“I was Nancy, you were vicious, uh-huh”). Another pleasant Weezer record, another album we’ll likely forget in no time.
