Does it ever really snow in California? Not in Los Angeles, but that did nothing to stop Weezer from dropping “California Snow,” their latest ode to surf, flurries and sand, on Thursday morning (Sept. 20).
The track opens with a majestic commotion of 1980s-sounding keyboards buzzing under singer Rivers Cuomo’s deadpan opening verse: “Walk soft with a big stick/When I play guitar it’s sick (whoo!)/This is the definition of flow (whoo!)/Nobody as cold as this (whoo!).”
The track comes from the film Spell (Sept. 23), the upcoming thriller from Crush Pictures, a division of the band’s management firm. In a tease of the new song, the band promised that it features Cuomo lending his voice “as the therapist…ready to help you solve all your thorny problems.” The sing-song second verse features an allusion to said “thorny” problems, as well as flowing lava, living for today and a view of life from the top.
By the third verse, though, things downshift into classic Weezer sunshine pop, albeit with a cheery warning to never, ever cross them. “Never go against the family/All I ever had to do is sing/Never go against the family/ When the root is strong the root is sweet,” Cuomo sings sweetly.
The Spell soundtrack’s score was written by Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump, who captures the frenetic inner monologue of Benny (Barak Hardley), a troubled 30-something American on a surreal journey through the Icelandic wilderness following the sudden death of his fiancée. Sparse, icy, and often jarring, the suites Stump wrote for Spell sound nothing like FOB, though the film does contain one familiar nugget for fans of his solo career: a retro-sounding soul song, written and sung by Stump, which plays a crucial role in the plot.
In a recent Billboard interview, Stump revealed that the movie features a Cuomo cameo as Benny’s doctor, which inspired the Weezer singer to tweak the lyrics on an unreleased demo of “Snow” that Cuomo polished up to fit the movie’s vibe.
Check out “California Snow” below.