Weezer are releasing two albums within the first half of 2021: the piano-powered, orchestrally infused, Pet Sounds-inspired OK Human next week, and then the hard-rocking Van Weezer in May. Because Van Weezer was supposed to be a 2020 release tied to Weezer’s Hella Mega Tour with Green Day and Fall Out Boy, the band has already shared three songs from it. Our first preview of OK Human, however, arrives today.

Album opener “All My Favorite Songs” is charming and engaging enough to suggest the idea of Weezer recording with a 38-piece orchestra at Abbey Road might actually have been a good idea. The song strikes a pleasing balance between chipper music and melancholy lyrics, landing squarely in Weezer’s radio-friendly zone without feeling entirely corny or sterile. It was preceded by a playlist of the same name, which contained tearjerkers from Johnny Cash, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Céline Dion, and others. This makes a lot of sense upon hearing Rivers Cuomo exclaim, “All my favorite songs are slow and sad/ I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

Hear “All My Favorite Songs” and watch the video below.

The band shared this statement about the album:

During the summer of COVID-19 we grabbed our masks, hit the studio & began to chip away at what is now known as OK Human. An album that was made by a handful of humans using only analog technologies (including a 38 piece orchestra) for all of you humans to consume.

OK Human was made at a time when humans-playing-instruments was a thing of the past. 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 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.

OK Human is out 1/29 on Crush Music/Atlantic. The rescheduled Hella Mega Tour is supposed to start 7/14 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, and for all our sakes I really hope outdoor concerts will be widely considered safe by then.