Alone II, as the title suggests is Cuomo's second collection of home-made demos and comes almost right on the heels of Weezer's Red Album. Its precursor, which was only released last year, was a mix of bright and poignant pieces of pop that recalled the early days of Weezer and some sub-par numbers that could accurately be described as "filler." The resulting product was made more for completists than anything else.
Cuomo's Demos
Cuomo's songwriting habits have become the things of legend. It has been rumored that the Weezer front man writes a song a day and then carefully files the results. Weezer bootlegs have long been a fan obsession as the band is also known for trimming at least an album's worth of material off of each of their albums.
Last year's demos collection was the first foray into Cuomo's personal stash of recordings however, and apparently the songwriter has already found enough other buried gems for a second album.
"My Brain is Working Over Time"
Cuomo's new single recalls the steady-driven pop of Weezer's Green Album. Sure, the recording quality is no where near as slick as that album, but this is also obviously not recorded on a four-track in some dank basement. A piano bounce forms the base of the song, while some fuzzy guitar and ripping leads flesh out the body. As usual Cuomo delivers a pop-worthy melody, and excellent use of backing vocals.
The video is, like many of Weezer's own videos, a quirky, fun-loving bit of film. At the start of the video we are brought face to face with Cuomo who, sporting right and white striped pajamas and holding a ukulele and hand puppets is inside of a small box. Some stuffed animals and blinking lights make up the rest of the decor as Cuomo sings directly into the camera about losing his mind.
Eventually we learn the box is a metal equipment container used on Weezer's tours that is being pushed by two disinterested roadies. Eventually the box is pushed out into a group of fans where the viewer is presented with the awkward scene of a pajama wearing Cuomo singing along to a song that his fans can't even hear. Hopefully Cuomo is just playing up to the song's theme, cause he looks a little out of it.
Like the song itself, the cute and clever video is no big-budget affair, but it does get the job done.
