It’s weird that one of my three favorite bands is Weezer. Most of my favorite music was made in the ten year period between 1966 and 1975; not to mention half of Weezer’s discography is pretty laughable. Sure, their debut and sophomore releases are great, but I latch on to records like Maladroit.

In 2014, their ninth album – Everything Will Be Alright in the End – really made me believe it! It went back to the instrumental stylistics of their early work. I was hoping that their follow-up could be the continuation of their present-day renaissance. Luckily, Weezer has released half of the tracklist to this album over the past four months as singles, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into forty-five minutes ago when I began to stream the album (the minute it went live, at midnight, of course). The rest of what I heard was great too, thankfully.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo has a habit of making me angry. By the third single I had figured out the California/beach theme that held this release together. It seemed interesting. It also seemed scary. Upon listening to it, though, it sounds like what the pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys would release if they existed fifty years later in history. The track “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” sounds like it could off their Sunflower album. It’s uncanny. The song focused on drug culture that follows it further cements the aesthetic of an oldies-bound, middle-aged rock star that just felt like he wanted to live up to his heroes.

The songs maintain the same style as their predecessor – they just sound more catchy. Some may complain about this. I can hear it now; I understand. We’re so used to Cuomo being a whiner, complaining that his physical relationships and romantic aspirations never work out like he wants them to. His demographic, if my friends are any example, is teenage boys anyway. “Highschool is weird. Girls don’t like me.” I’m sure it still is when you’re over forty, but Cuomo leaves that behind on this record. He seems confident. It’s refreshing.

Their fourth self-titled album, 2016’s Weezer (The White Album), is great. It doesn’t do anything special; no one expects it to. Cuomo has just proved once again that he writes concise power-pop hits better than anyone else. He’s just having fun. And after listening to it for the first time, I am too.