Video: Weezer – “All My Favorite Songs”

Directed by Colin Read. From OK Human, due January 29 on Atlantic.

Goddamn Weezer, just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

“We used our instruments to connect to the 1960’s and 1970’s 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.”

I am a total sucker for gimmicks like that. The funny thing is, despite whatever constraints they put on themselves, “All My Favorite Songs” ends up sounding just like Weezer. I didn’t even notice there weren’t any electric guitars. Wait, is that even true? Not even bass? The band has electric instruments in the video for sure, but that doesn’t mean anything. I can’t be sure. Can you?

But the video is great. A charming indictment of our always-online, never-putting-our-phones-down culture. We’re probably all overdue for a device detox. Who am I kidding? Never going to happen. But it’s nice to imagine a world where we all lived in the present instead of letting our monkey brains swing from thought to thought, moment to moment, restless and uncontrollable.

OK Human is out this Friday. Van Weezer, the album first announced back in September 2019, has been pushed back to May 7, 2021.