Concept albums are not a foreign concept to Weezer -- the band released two of them in 2021, which is more than many acts do in their lifetime -- but their SZNZ project of 2022 is certainly ambitious. Over the course of the year, they plan to release a new EP at the dawn of each season, with each record intending to convey the spirit of the season. SZNZ: Spring -- the first season in the Northern Hemisphere, so the first EP in SZNZ series -- is indeed a cheerful, optimistic listen, filled with sunny melodies and bright, hopeful imagery, some plucked straight from Shakespeare. Weezer layer SZNZ: Spring with instruments that also suggest a flowering rebirth: plenty of acoustic guitars, a stray recorder and mandolin, lots of cheerful vocal harmonies. The busy but uncluttered arrangements are reminiscent of how Rivers Cuomo discovered how to maintain his band's identifiable melodic signatures within the orchestral settings of OK Human; these are recognizably Weezer songs, but they're livelier in execution, benefitting from a palpable sense of playfulness on the part of the band. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine