![\"weezer-pacific-daydream-new-album\"](\"\/wtbu\/files\/2017\/11\/weezer-pacific-daydream-new-album-636x636.jpg\")
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Weezer is back, hot off of <\/span>The White Album<\/span><\/i>, bringing more of the California alt rock that they\u2019re known for with <\/span>Pacific Daydream<\/span><\/i>. Over the years, the band has taken their fans on a roller coaster ride of emotions with their albums. Their releases have ranged from some real hits to some real misses, all the while deviating farther and farther from the stripped back rock sound of <\/span>The Blue Album<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Pinkerton<\/span><\/i>, the group\u2019s first two and most well-received albums. The band\u2019s eleventh album, <\/span>Pacific Daydream<\/span><\/i>, is almost pop music. Despite the ups and downs, I really loved <\/span>The White Album<\/span><\/i>, so I was excited for a new project.<\/span><\/p>\n The album runs into its first problem with the first five tracks. The band has been releasing singles since March of this year, and all five of them appear on the record. This wouldn\u2019t be a problem\u2026if the album were more than just nine tracks. At 34 minutes, <\/span>Pacific Daydream<\/span><\/i> is for sure a little short, but less than half of the project is new material, which really weighs the album down. This is especially apparent since none of these singles really stood out, but I was hopeful for more from the album.<\/span><\/p>\n The first track is \u201cMexican Fender,\u201d one of the first singles to be on the new album. The song was just decent upon first listen, and it\u2019s a little better in the context of the whole album. The instrumentation that comes in behind the vocals on the chorus is pretty layered and fun. The next track is \u201cBeach Boys,\u201d which was my favorite of the singles released. I have a soft spot for twanging bass; the song had me hooked from the beginning. After repeatedly listening to the track, my enjoyment significantly decreased, but the bass line throughout stands out.<\/span><\/p>\n The album takes a bit of a turn for the worse with the last three of the singles, starting with \u201cFeels<\/span> Like Summer.\u201d The track was strategically released in March, a little too early for summer, but probably a marketing move to become a hot summer jam on the radio. The song was fine up until the chorus, where it really loses me (especially as I listen to it in the cold Boston wind). \u201cHappy Hour\u201d<\/span> and \u201cWeekend Woman\u201d are both pretty mediocre, and the singing on the first verse of the former is pretty rough.<\/span><\/p>\n After this track, the album picks up again with the four cuts original to the album. I enjoy all of these songs a bit more, but sadly, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s because they\u2019re better or just fresher. \u201cQB Blitz\u201d<\/span> is a softer, more somber cut, and its slower tempo is a breath of fresh air on a rather fast-paced album. The acoustic guitar in the opening serves as a nice entrance to the song, and the way more instruments creep in during and after the first chorus feels like a very natural progression. I do wish the track stayed rawer and more stripped back. This would have made it stand out more. The bridge changes to a weird key that loses me a bit. \u201cSweet Mary\u201d is another fun cut that builds up nicely all throughout to a satisfying conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGet Right,\u201d and \u201cLa Mancha Screwjob\u201d are two of my favorite tracks on the tail end of the album. The 16<\/span>th<\/span> note bells on the second chorus of \u201cGet Right\u201d<\/span> give a cool, quick pace, and the subtle harmony in the chorus give a powerful feel to the song. \u201cLa Mancha Screwjob\u201d ironically starts with the sound of crickets chirping, but builds to be the most epic and fun song on the album. The booming toms reverberate behind the synth chords and quiet bass, foreshadowing the explosion of the song at the chorus. The percussion grooves behind frontman River Cuomo\u2019s vocals. The track eventually cuts out with the same synth chords from the beginning. The album then ends with \u201cAny Friend of Diane\u2019s.\u201d Although it is a mellower track, it serves as a pleasing finish. The guitar riffs that open the track and reappear in the middle of the song are very out of place on a song like this. The track isn\u2019t too bad or too good, and that summarizes how I feel about the album as a whole.<\/span><\/p>\n I was disappointed by how much of the track list was pre-released singles, but even the singles I didn\u2019t like weren\u2019t completely awful. The rest of the tracks also came off lackluster\u2014including the ones I did like (aside from \u201cLa Mancha Screwjob\u201d: I really like that song). Nothing was really good, but at the same time, nothing was really bad. The summer vibes also feel fairly out of place with a late October release. To be fair, this might not be true in the band\u2019s hometown of LA.<\/span><\/p>\n I felt that every cut from <\/span>The White Album <\/span><\/i>had its own characteristic that drew me into it. There were constant transitions in the mood of the album; almost every track went back and forth between different vibes. These ups-and-downs kept listeners attentive and tuned in to what would come next. <\/span>Pacific Daydream<\/span><\/i> is much flatter and monotone. Every song has an upbeat fun feeling. Worse is that all of the tracks follows the same formula: a first verse that builds into a chorus, more instrumentation added in the second verse until a livelier second chorus, a bridge, and the song will end on the chorus. It\u2019s not a bad formula used by plenty of modern day songs, but really? Every track? I love French toast, but if I ate French toast every day I\u2019d get sick of it.<\/span><\/p>\n I do think that it\u2019s a fine album, but that\u2019s as positive as I can really get. The more and closer I listen to the album, the more I do enjoy it. However, half of the songs already feel stale, making it tough to fall in love with. If you\u2019re a fan of Weezer you may not be crazy about the more artificial and multi-layered instrumentation, but I think there is some merit to <\/span>Pacific Daydream<\/span><\/i>. I\u2019ll definitely check out <\/span>The Black Album <\/span><\/i>that the band has said will be coming out next year.<\/span><\/p>\n -Matt Bandel<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Weezer is back, hot off of The White Album, bringing more of the California alt rock that they\u2019re known for with Pacific Daydream. Over the years, the band has taken their fans on a roller coaster ride of emotions with their albums. Their releases have ranged from some real hits to some real misses, all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1524],"tags":[26,243,31,242,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20701,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972\/revisions\/20701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}