Why Weezer's Orchestra Experiment Doesn't Work

Rivers and Company switch things up with a 38-piece orchestra

Check This Out!’s mission statement is simple: “finding the good music so you don’t have to.” This newsletter’s purpose is to give light to artists that aren’t necessarily in the mainstream, and not discussing bands like Weezer. But their new album, OK Human is so frustrating; it demands a reflection on what went wrong.

My first encounter with Weezer was their Spike Jonze-directed “Buddy Holly” music video that came preloaded on Windows 95. By placing the band into a Happy Days scene, Jonze had created another legendary music video (the other Windows 95 music video, not so memorable). Between “Buddy Holly” and “Undone - The Sweater Song” (also directed by Jonze), the band was all over MTV and the radio.

Weezer clicked right away with me because they were a great counter to grunge. Sure, they still had the fuzz guitars, but they were dorks singing about girl problems, their favorite bands, and surfing - all with great harmonies - a practice that wasn’t so popular in the 90s. The self-titled debut (known as the Blue Album, the start of Weezer releasing self-titled albums referred to by their color) was one of the two first CDs I bought with my own money. The other was Blues Traveler Four which also still holds up.

The debut was followed up by Pinkerton, which was considered a sophomore slump at the time. I’ve always loved the album, and time has been kind to Pinkerton - it’s also now regarded as classic. It’s sloppier, recorded during a difficult time in the band’s career, but full of so many catchy songs, and I still consider it my favorite Weezer album. My middle school band even did a decent cover of “The Good Life,” notable because not everything we played was ‘decent.’

Pinkerton was a commercial and critical failure, and for a few years, it appeared Weezer was done. Bassist Matt Sharpe left to form The Rentals, something I think changed the band for the worse. Five years later, they returned with the Rick Ocasek-produced Green Album, which had “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun,” giving them a huge comeback. The next year saw the more riff-heavy release of Maladroit, notable because the quick turnaround - bands weren’t releasing albums every year in the late 90s and early 00s.

Their next album, Make Believe, in 2005, where my enthusiasm for the Weez started to wane. Its big single was “Beverly Hills,” a grating mess of a song that has gone on to define their sound on each release since. I scanned through the Red Album and completely missed Raditude and Hurley.

In their third decade, though, Weezer has had a few tricks up their sleeve. I semi enjoyed 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright in the End, but the White Album in 2016 surprised the hell out of me. It went back to their debut's sound while not coming off as nostalgic and is my third favorite of theirs.

Unfortunately, since the White Album, Weezer has embraced going back to their meme band status, with “Happy Hour” being one of the worst songs to be released in the last five years. At least Pacific Daydream gave us this gem from Saturday Night Live. The band appeared to be doubling down on this when they announced their metal album Van Weezer, which was set to be released last May. The album was delayed due to Covid but will now be released this May. This brings us to the new album, OK Human.

Ok Human is the piano-based project that bandleader Rivers Cuomo was working on in 2019, before writing and recording Van Weezer quickly so they could go on tour with Fall Out Boy and Green Day (kill me). In January, the band announced that OK Human would be released a few weeks later.

While the band has experimented with different genres over their career, OK Human is alien territory for Weezer because it has no electric guitars and features a 38-piece orchestra on each song. Cuomo stated that the album is based on Nilsson Sings Newman and Pet Sounds, an idea that piqued my interest. Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t meet the description.

The first track, “All My Favorite Songs,” lets the listener know OK Human is mostly filled with songs that answer the question “what would Weezer sound like with violins and cellos instead of guitars?”. You can add an orchestra, but Cuomo is still writing the same power-pop jingles that have plagued the latter half of the band’s career. Like “Aloo Gobi” and “Grapes of Wrath,” other tracks in this vain suffer from this similarly. I’d instead prefer to dust off a relic by my hometown faves Matson Jones.

Another issue with OK Human is the production and mixing. Weezer chose to bring back White Album producer Jake Sinclair, but the combo doesn’t find magic a second time. Sinclair is also known for working with Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco, a bad sign for an album built around an orchestra. Even though there are so many things going on - bells, timpanis, and even some mellotron - everything sounds flat. The only person that seems to rise above this is drummer Pat Wilson, who deserves credit for creating some engaging parts when everything else is lulling you to sleep.

When Weezer decides to toss the pop sheen on a few of the tracks, they shine. Tracks like “Numbers” and “Playing My Piano” move away from power chords and allow for more traditional chamber-pop structures to give a glimpse of what this project could have been. “Bird With A Broken Wing” is also a welcome surprise, a heartfelt ditty that somehow avoids the corny trappings that many of these songs suffer from. It’s in the last thirty seconds on the album, during “La Brea Tar Pits,” that the Pet Sounds influence finally pushes through. But by the time the album becomes interesting, it’s over.

There are these moments, along with Weezer’s reliable harmonies, that show how differently this record could have gone, and I commend the band for trying something else. I would even be interested in seeing them do another album like this but instead ditch the pop facade.

Oh well, let’s see what Van Weezer brings.

Rating: ✌️✌️½ /5

OK Human is available via Atlantic Records.

What is your favorite Weezer album? Did you feel differently about OK Human? Leave it in the comments!