Album Review: SZNZ: Spring [EP] by Weezer

The first of a four-part EP series inspired by The Four Seasons, a famous collection of four violin concertos by 18th century Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, the premise of Weezer's SZNZ series is as follows: one EP per season. Presumably, when added together, there will be a full album you'll be able to buy at Target next winter. The Vivaldi inspiration isn't as strange as it may initially seem, considering a) frontman Rivers Cuomo is a known lover of baroque classical music (notably Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier") and b) one of Weezer's two albums last year (OK Human) ditched the rock guitars for symphonic strings and piano, to surprisingly pleasant results.

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There's something entertaining, even admirable, about the way Weezer leader Rivers Cuomo continues to follow his weirdest whims. The results are sometimes excellent (2021's orchestral OK Human), occasionally dreadful (the plastic pop of 2019's Black Album) and often somewhere in between (the faux hard rock of 2021's Van Weezer) -- but no matter where Weezer land these days, listeners can usually count on them to take a big swing. Their latest off-the-wall concept is SZNZ, a series of four EPs arriving on 2022's equinoxes and solstices, loosely inspired by Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Why? Who knows! Why not, I guess. Weezer have always sounded like an extremely summery band.

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