New Weezer album puts new spin on classic sound

A mother in the first track of Weezer’s newest album says “Everything will be alright in the end.” This intro is an overarching theme of the album, as the familiar lyrics about girls and loneliness mix with nostalgia and reflection to create an idea of what’s to come for both the band’s lead singer and songwriter Rivers Cuomo and Weezer as a whole. Cuomo has written almost every Weezer song since their inception in ‘92, and although his life has changed (now he’s married with a kid) he still rocks out like no other.

There are intense guitar solos throughout the album, and while the lyrics of the album aren’t as edgy as the old Weezer, who used to sing about mistaking lesbian girls as straight and being tired of having sex, they reflect the maturation Cuomo has gone through in his personal life.

One particular track, “Foolish Father,” describes his relationship with his kid and references the album title heavily, proclaiming to his children that “Everything will be alright in the end” over and over again, almost as a reassurance of himself rather than for his kid. While it is a new experience to hear Cuomo talk about his child, he does so with the same grunge rock overtones as all of his greatest work.

The tracks feel as much like classic Weezer as the band’s first efforts 20 years ago, but are also fresh and gritty, giving the album a new spin on an old style. There is mourning and reflection on Everything Will Be Alright In The End, which comes as only natural for such an established act. Many of the songs, like “Back To The Shack” and “Eulogy For a Rock Band” take a retrospective look on the band’s career, and with the latter comes a somber view of the past, comparing the band members to heroes who are over the hump. These two tracks are second and third on the album, and they preface the rest of the album by telling the audience that this Weezer is more like the one from the Blue Album, rather than more recent iterations.

In “Back To The Shack,” Cuomo references the notoriously experimental stage of Weezer’s career, starting around Raditude in 2009 when the band featured artists like Lil’ Wayne on their tracks. He equates it to a mistake.

“I thought I’d get a new audience / I forgot that disco sucks” are his words regarding this stage in the band’s history, and it is refreshing to hear Weezer in their old glory again.

It’s been four years since their previous album, Hurley, which was the last of a yearly offering by the band from 2008-2010. The longer break clearly allowed Rivers Cuomo and all of Weezer to reconnect with their old sound, as none of the songs made in that time period fit with their older work or this newer album.

After outlining what you are about to hear on this album in the first few songs, Weezer dives into the lonely grunge they are so good at playing, with tracks like “I’ve Had It Up To Here” and “Go Away” featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast that sound like what Pinkerton would sound like if it wasn’t self-produced.

Everything Will Be Alright In The End was split into three sections according to Cuomo in an interview with Rolling Stone. There are songs about girls, songs about fans and songs about fathers, and he switches between them are clear to see. The album starts off about the fans, as Cuomo apologizes for the music he’s made recently, then talks about a slightly more dramatic topic — girls — in which he no longer has the same edge after his marriage. The songs in this section are strong, but they are not at all the old Weezer in terms of lyrics, which is why the last section is so vital. Whereas women used to be a key component of Cuomo’s life, his intentions have since changed. The songs about fathers are so strong because fatherhood is the centerpiece of Cuomo’s life at the moment. You can tell he is fearful, as in “Foolish Father,” and because of this, the last section of the album is the strongest by far.

After “Foolish Father,” the album closes with the “Futurescope Trilogy,” a three-song epic with minimal lyrics and a strong buildup to the final crash of the album. This is Weezer experimentation that works, and the final song, “The Futurescope Trilogy: III. Return to Ithaka” is a wordless anthem with a Van Halen-esque solo closing out the album. Although this trilogy is hard to decipher, the three songs are strong enough to not warrant a meaning. They are just powerful reminders of Weezer’s technical abilities, and they further solidify the greatness that is Everything Will Be Alright In The End.

 

Matt Burke is a sophomore majoring in film production. His column, “Notes on Notes,” runs Thursdays.