Weezer’s ‘Weezer’ Disappoints
Latest Record Aims to Recapture Their 1990s Vibe
![](https://www.independent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/11/5980281.jpg)
Inspired by frontman Rivers Cuomo’s Santa Monica nabe, Weezer’s beach-y “White Album” aims to recapture their 1990s vibe, but too many moments resemble Beach Boys updates or spare parts from 2005’s disposable Make Believe. Sonically uneventful “King of the World” addresses Mrs. Cuomo’s anxieties. While the intriguing “Jacked Up” flaunts Cuomo’s falsetto across staccato reggae piano, nautical-themed “Wind in Our Sail” offers the poor man’s “Island in the Sun.” Weezer won’t be mistaken for that other “White Album.” After 2014’s ambitious, transcendent Everything Will Be Alright in the End, the default Weezer formula here often disappoints. But the objective’s clear: a summery confection as insouciant as the lovebirds in “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing,” “driving to Ventura on the 101 / It sounds like fun to me.”