Weezer – SZNZ: Spring (Indie Exclusive, Colored Vinyl)
Weekly Review:
In lieu of releasing a new album last year, veteran indie rockers Weezer released quarterly, seasonal EPs.
Inspired by Antonio Vivaldi’s symphony “The Four Seasons,” Weezer’s Spring opens with “Opening Night,” which incorporates a main theme of the classical composer’s masterpiece. Weezer frontman and songwriter Rivers Cuomo espouses the delight he finds in characters from Shakespeare’s plays against an arrangement that switches between acoustic instruments from a Renaissance fair and the band’s classic electric crunch.
The result is either cloy and ingratiating or a refreshing, depending on where one stands with Cuomo’s post-millennial output. The remaining six songs aren’t like to change the listener’s mind. “Angels on Vacation” opens with a choir, while “The Sound of Drums” borrows a harpsichord.
The EP’s best song, “A Little Bit of Love” recalls the carefree joy of “Island in the Sun” and “Keep Fishin’.” Lyrics about waning winter frost invoke that first warm day of the year, where you can throw open the windows and bask in the sun.
“A Little Bit of Love” is almost good enough on its own to win back the jaded Weezer fans who have rejected everything since Pinkerton or the Green Album. This is Weezer at its most playful, for those who are willing to play along. – Joel Francis
