California-based rock quartet Weezer has had a particularly prolific run in recent years. After dropping two massive records in 2021, Rivers Cuomo and Co. continued their creative hot streak into 2022 with “SZNZ,” a four-part series of EP’s corresponding to the four seasons. Despite grand aspirations, the earlier three installments were less than successful. From the hit-or-miss orchestral arrangements of “Spring,” to the millennial radio pop malaise of “Summer” and questionable dance pop of “Autumn,” “SZNZ” was shaping up to be yet another failed experiment from the band. However, “Winter” sees the band returning to the punchy power-pop leanings that defined its 90s golden age all while perfectly encapsulating the season of winter. With the crisp winter wind blowing outside, the final installment of SZNZ is an invitation to sit by the fire and listen to Uncle Rivers sing songs of cool winter nights, lost love, and … puppy dogs?
Indeed, the album opener “I Want a Dog” begins as a simply worded ode to canine companionship. Over gently fingerpicked acoustics, the song begins “I want a dog ’cause he’d try to lick my face/And he would smile when I got home to my place,” before erupting into distorted power chords and soaring vocal hooks. Though the track is cute, concise, and catchy, the lyrics of “I Want a Dog” touch upon themes of loneliness and lack of human connection, delivering on the band’s promise of “sad, acoustic, Elliott Smith-style” music.
While the record may not contain the sheer despair of Smith’s viscerally downtrodden catalog, Cuomo continues to infuse the upbeat Weezer sound with melancholic lyrics in later tracks. In “Deep and Dreamless Sleep,” Cuomo describes sleep as “the pill for all my pain” and “the cure for all my grief” over a bouncy instrumental similar to the happy-go-lucky tunes of the band’s 2016 “White Album.”
Weezer may well be the most meme-worthy band of the twenty-first century, but “SZNZ: Winter” is proof that Rivers Cuomo has a heart. Boasting reflective (albeit dorky) lyrics and an authentic Weezer power pop sound, “Winter” proves to be an impressive conclusion to the so-so “SZNZ” series.
Featured image from “SZNZ: Winter” – Weezer on Spotify.
