Weezer are one of the bands who first embraced their own nerdiness and didn’t care what anyone thought. From this approach we’ve been presented with work varying from the Beach Boys esque ‘Buddy Holly’ to the heavy, distorted ‘Hash Pipe’ through to the sublime ‘Heart Songs’. With their exceptional ability to tell a story, there is always something to look forward to with every new release. With Pacific Daydream having just dropped, my anticipation for an album to brighten the onset of winter is high and I can’t wait to see what we’ve been given.
‘Mexican Fender’ is full of glorious summer vibes with Weezer's trademark thunderous bass, crunchy guitars and sweet saccharine vocals. A chorus that begins with “Summer Love...” feels like that summer you had when you were 15 and fell in ‘Love’ with the girl you met for 3 weeks...
Slightly more experimental than their usual style and not as much like the Beach Boys as we have previously heard, we have ‘Beach Boys’. Alongside the departure from guitar driven pop is the same storytelling aspect to the lyrics. It feels more contemporary and has an electric feel underpinning Rivers Cuomo's melodious vocal work.
Similar to Mexican Fender, though Mexican Fender is a stronger song, is ‘Feels like Summer’. The theme of an achingly long summer hanging out with their friends, meeting boys and girls and having a good time feels like it’s going to run throughout the album.
'Happy Hour' has more of a funky groove to this track with a gorgeously produced bass line doing all the work for Rivers and co to play all over. It clocks in at under three minutes as a short sharp shock of summer.
I wasn’t initially grabbed by the verse of ‘Weekend Woman’ but the chorus is a huge pop delight that echoes that yearning you felt when, as a youngster, you could only see your significant other at the weekend. It’s a cracking chorus and the middle eight is a Beach Boys style piece of pop perfection. This and Mexican Fender are stand out tracks for me so far.
'QB Blitz' is another slice of musicality that work as a vehicle for what Weezer are known for but, by this point, it’s lost in the album as ‘more of the same’. The middle eight is, again, a stand out moment in the song.
Cuomo is just stretching his vocals on ‘Sweet Mary’ from the outset, adding to the emotional element of the song. Drums and bass punctuating the lyrical stylings as we drive through to the uptempo chorus. The tone and feel of the melody and lyrics are a refreshing break from the vibe of the rest of the album so far. After ANOTHER building and climbing middle eight the piece kicks back in with a fantastic tempo and feel, culminating in an incredible finale.
The theme that I was feeling at the start seems to have peaked and we have now descended into a darker second half, more full of longing and desperation rather than the wondrous and euphoric yearning of earlier in the album.
Reminiscent of an 80s rock song with its undercurrent of denial, professed love and refusal to accept that things are over is ‘Get Right’. Possibly the weakest song on the album, I’ve already forgotten how it goes....
By the point ‘La Mancha Screwjob’ hits us; we are quickly informed of Rivers acceptance that the love of his life is no more and that he is doing his best to move on. Thankfully this is done over a great composition with trademark Weezer melody and harmonies. The guitars are quietly understated but are nonetheless executed with a mastery that would be missed were it not there.
Album closer, ‘Any Friend of Diane's’ opens with acoustic guitar, clapping and a catchy refrain. I can’t but help have a feeling of deja vu as I consider that it’s very similar to the rest of the album in it’s familiarity, of course, but it’s a great song nonetheless, showcasing the individual virtuosity of each of the musicians in the band. The narrative seems to have gone full circle and Rivers is back in a good place!
Pacific Daydream is undeniably a showcase of west coast California living; exploring love loss and recovery in predictably brilliant style. If this were any band other than Weezer I’m sure I’d be raving about it a lot more but it’s what I expect from them and what I got. Great album, just not great enough to reach their top three in my mind.
Comments
Post a Comment