You don’t sell over 35 million records worldwide across an almost thirty-year career without occasionally re-inventing yourself, and Weezer – the pop rockers led by the enigmatic figure of Rivers Cuomo – are no exception.

From the breakthrough success of geek rock debut The Blue Album, which spawned jukebox classics like Buddy Holly and Say It Ain’t So, to the poppy overtones of The Green Album and the commercial success of hit singles Hash Pipe and Islands In The Sun, as well as the darker, introspective feel of Pinkerton right up to the experimental rap and synths of 2008’s Red Album, Weezer are a band that keep their many, many fans on their toes.

OK Human, their fourteenth studio album, is no exception. And it might just be their boldest statement to date. Because Weezer have ditched the guitars, and penned a twelve-track orchestral, piano-driven pop album.

Opening track, and new single All My Favourite Songs eases us in to the change gently, managing to capture that quirky Weezer feel with a breezy score that plays nicely against a distinctly Cuomo lyric: “All my favorite songs are slow and sad / All my favorite people make me mad, so mad / Everything that feels so good is bad, bad, bad”.

That this record was penned long before the current Coronavirus pandemic changed all our lives becomes very obvious on the second track, Aloo Gobi, as Cuomo sings laments the tedium of going out for an Indian meal, something many of us would love to do right now. Grapes Of Wrath is a head nodding, staccato vocalled affair, while Playing My Piano is more in keeping with lockdown life (“My wife is upstairs / My kids are upstairs / And I haven’t washed my hair in three weeks”).

The real success with OK Human is that, despite the total sonic change, it still feels quintessentially Weezer. That’s a testament to their songwriting ability, and the way they’ve honed their craft over the decades. They will keep on experimenting. In fact, they’ve already revealed their next album, due out in May, will be a hard rock offering titled Van Weezer. But I’d suggest right now that the familiar Weezer-feeling will be at the heart of it.

Ok Human track list:

1. All My Favorite Songs

2. Aloo Gobi

3. Grapes Of Wrath

4. Numbers

5. Playing My Piano

6. Mirror Image

7. Screens 8. Bird With A Broken Wing

9. Dead Roses

10. Everything Happens For A Reason

11. Here Comes The Rain

12. La Brea Tar Pits

Watch the official video for All My Favorite Songs here.

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.