Weezer

OK Human

These moments of light and shade are everywhere on OK Human, and in addressing them Weezer have made one of their most catchy and insightful records to date.

Orchestrated, analogue, packed with typically smart, reliably unshakeable River Cuomo compositions, this is Weezer's social media/lockdown-atuned Pet Sounds.

OK Human is an oddity and a warm digital hug; it's Weezer reacting to an endless, nerve-shredding, social-life-destroying period of isolation the way only Weezer can, drawing further inwards to themselves but somehow inviting us along for the ride.

What a lovely surprise from a band who are becoming increasingly more marmite as they near their third decade as a band.

With 12 tracks and a runtime of barely more than half an hour, any flaws are minor and the album breezes by. The arrangements may be ambitious, but there's very little pomp or grandeur here; this is just another low-stakes success in a long and varied career.

OK Human isn’t just a pleasant surprise, it’s a genuinely good album that shows off a lot of Weezer’s best sides in a way that’s been missing of late.

A swooning, orchestral pop record that’s elegant, yet intimate and has become a document of Cuomo’s life during Covid times; the anxiety, the isolation, but also a sense of calm.

Weezer's 2021 output is off to a great start with OK Human.

Fresh out of gimmicks, Weezer think outside the box and deliver their most sincere album in years with OK Human.

2016’s ‘White Album’ was genuinely good - at least by the standards of modern Weezer - and ‘OK Human’ is most certainly their strongest offering since ... A touch less polish, and some might even be suggesting Weezer were back on form.

Face-masked, Abbey Road-recorded orchestral sessions embroider some wonderfully imaginative conceits, Cuomo's trademark wryness dialled-down a tad as he focuses on tuning-out doom, isolation with his family, and his concerns about using literature to escape/self-medicate.

It should remind Weezer’s doggedly loyal fanbase that the singer’s ear for melodicism remains second to none—and when the musical accompaniment rises to meet the challenge, as it often does here, it’s a testament to why we keep coming back.

It’s Weezer’s attempt at pathos (or bathos in Cuomo’s case) that makes OK Human feel, well, more human. If Cuomo could ever let his guard down fully, without feeling self-conscious, he probably has a great album inside of him.

Weezer has always had heart, and OK Human shows the value of taking time to record instead of filling the silence with countless tours and albums. Weezer is finally taking risks outside of the formula that has worked so well, and they still have a lot of mileage left in them.