Weezer release "quirky' orchestral pop album 'OK Human'

Less than two weeks after announcing it was on the way, Weezer released their orchestral pop album OK Human. Frontman Rivers Cuomo has described the 12-song collection as a “quirky, personal, non-commercial album with no big guitars,” and that's an understatement. The project features all-analog equipment and a 32-piece orchestra, while Cuomo sings some of his most personal lyrics in the past decade.

Though the title is a nod to Radiohead's technophobic OK Computer, sonically Weezer's 14th album takes inspiration from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.

"OK Human was made at a time when humans-playing-instruments was a thing of the past," Weezer wrote on Instagram upon the release of the album's lead single "All My Favorite Songs." "All we could do is look back on ancient times when humans really mattered and when the dark tech-takeover fantasy didn’t exist. We used our instruments to connect to the 1960s and 1970s and, with the orchestra, back to the 18th and 19th centuries. We had no click track or loops or hi-tech sounds. Not even an electric guitar."

As fans know, Cuomo and company are also working on a guitar-heavy album called Van Weezer, and have already released three of its singles — "Hero," "The End Of The Game,"and "Beginning Of The End"— however, when the pandemic hit they thought the last thing the world needed was a stadium-ready rock album in a time when concerts weren't happening.

“This is probably the best possible time for this album,” Cuomo admitted in a recent interview with NME. “It’s about feeling isolated and alienated and secluded, so it’s the perfect album for now.”

Listen to some songs off OK Human above.

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission