ABC/Randy HolmesWeezer's new album Pacific Daydream arrives this week, and frontman Rivers Cuomo says you should prepare for the "biggest departure we've made" from the band's sound.
"We really went for some different things," Cuomo tells NME. "On guitar, we were really influenced by a lot of British bands like The Cure and The Clash. Instead of stepping on the distortion pedal in the chorus, we’re stepping on the reverb pedal...it's long been a goal of mine to break away from distortion, but I'm delighted that we've finally achieved it."
Still, Cuomo thinks you'll recognize some familiar Weezer elements in Pacific Daydream.
"At the same time, it still sounds like a sing-along, beach bar party album, mixed with sadness and alienation," he says.
Before Weezer announced Pacific Daydream, Cuomo teased that the band's next effort would be called The Black Album. However, he put that aside once Pacific Daydream started to come together in a more "unified" way.
"It wasn't planned, but that's how it turned out this time," Cuomo says. "The Black Album still exists, and that could come out next."
"The Black Album is darker. It's more experimental and wildly negative," he adds. "It's experimenting with more modern electronic elements."
In the meantime, you can grab Pacific Daydream when it arrives on October 27.
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