By Will McCracken
Weezer has once again added to their large list of albums. During their career, Weezer has released 11 studio albums. The band’s tenure has lasted two and a half decades so far. Despite their longevity, Weezer’s consistency with quality has been shaky and very inconsistent. This is demonstrated very well in Pacific Daydream.
Throughout their career, Weezer has experimented with many different sounds, and I was really hoping for a grungy angst-filled album. The Weezer of the 90s or 2000s would have really suited my tastes.
What was received was far from what I had envisioned. The album was a great disappointment. Their last album, White Album, was an interesting and enjoyable project, with much more of the rock influence to it. That is the sound that has defined the band over the years. I expected a bit of the momentum from White Album to hang around for Pacific Daydream but I was mistaken.
While the album isn’t entirely bad, it isn’t particularly inspiring. “Mexican Fender” is is one of the songs that inspires a sense of hope for the rest of the album. The song captures the optimistic and carefree vibe, all while infusing rock and what makes Weezer great. The album is attempting to capture a pop influenced sound through its drawn out choruses of happy happy happy, repitition repitition repitition. The best example of this on the album is “Feels Like Summer.” The line repeats itself ten times in only six stanzas.
“Feels like Summer” and “Mexican Fender” are both singles that were included as part of the album; “Mexican Fender is even enjoyable.” The inclusion of “Feels like Summer” is quite strange. “Feels like Summer” debuted on the Billboard 100 at number one in August, but has since fallen off. Sticking a song titled “Feels like Summer” on an album that was released firmly in the fall is quite strange. Though many people find “Feels like Summer” to be a more enjoyable track, that feeling is quickly waned when you realize that it is just another cookie cutter pop-alternative hit with very little power or meaning.
Parts of the album were nearly unbearable. “La Mancha Screwjob” and “Any Friend of Diane’s” sound like they should be playing inside of an American Eagle store. The sound was quite generic, and mediocre at best. The stench of pop music taints almost all of the second half of the album. Overproduction and glossiness are major contributors to why the project is such a disappointment.
