Ah, fall. That time of year when a young man’s thoughts turn to flights of fancy, and Weezer rolls out a new song, as part of the perpetual cycle of hope and disappointment known as the “Latter-day Weezer Fan Paradox.” Last year saw a welcome semi-return to form with Everything Will Be Alright In the End, prompting hopes that Rivers Cuomo had again steered his band out of the land of shitty jokes and wacky riffs, back into the earnest and catchy realm of the band’s first decade. But judging by “Thank God For Girls,” the new Weezer single, the band is still making periodic stops in that territory, even if it’s no longer quite so shticky.
Cuomo himself seems pretty gung-ho about the new track, as The Wrap reports, saying he took to Facebook to call it a “perfect mix of Weezer past and future,” which is pretty accurate, for good and ill. Musically, it’s not too shabby, very in keeping with the hummable quiet-loud-quiet structure of much of the group’s work, bopping along at a toe-tapping rhythm. Lyrically, it might be best to just let his rapid-fire story of cannollis, bros, and the girls apparently made of “cardamom and cloves” wash over you without much close attention. Delivered in a rapid sing-speak onslaught, it’s the kind of backhanded compliment of a sentiment that gets more awkward in the second verse, when Cuomo makes clear it’s all just a sad wish-fulfillment fantasy anyway. And so the Weezer cycle of life continues. Hakuna Matata.