By Sean Lynch

Weezer is playing the role of the rebel without a cause for the first time in years. Without a label for the time being, Weezer released two singles “Thank God For Girls” and “Do You Wanna Get High?” Coming off of their ninth studio album Everything Will Be Alright In The End, Weezer jumps back to the days of The Green Album with strong melodies and harmonies within the vocals of these songs.

The first song released of the pair, “Thank God For Girls”, takes a different turn from Weezer’s guitar-heavy power pop. The song starts with a piano and builds up to hard guitar chords. Rivers Cuomo’s vocals sound similar to Weezer’s southern rap style of vocals. They sound bunched together, but Cuomo gives them a touch of lightness through his vocals. There is also some harmony play on the chorus, making for smooth transitions.

The song “Do You Wanna Get High?” provides a look into Cuomo’s path of addiction to pills. Cuomo explained the background to the song on Genius. “This is about me and my darling girlfriend in 2000/2001—-the same girl that inspired ‘o GIRLFRIEND’ from the Green album,” said Cuomo.

“Do You Wanna Get High?” is rougher than “Thank God For Girls” with its distorted guitars and rougher vocals. The guitar solo serves as the exclamation point for the song. The crunchy chords give off the right amount of rawness as they help cap off the song.

Both singles sound more carefree than other tracks on their recent albums. Since the band is not on a label, they don’t have to fit into a specific mold. Weezer is trying to go back to the days when they were acclaimed and forget about the album experimentations that didn’t work. Even if these singles are not pieces to a bigger puzzle, they are still something small to enjoy as a reminder of Weezer’s older material.