Weezer Prepares For ‘Winter’ with Final ‘SZNZ’ EP

Winter is coming for Weezer.

The band of Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell, Scott Shriner and Patrick Wilson has dropped the final installment of their year-long SZNZ project with SZNZ: Winter, fittingly released on the first day of winter (Dec. 21). Inspired by Academy Award-nominated songwriter Elliott Smith, who died at the age of 34 in 2003, Winter keeps in theme with the previous three EPs that were released on the first day of each season in 2022: SZNZ: Spring (March 20), SZNZ: Summer (June 21) and SZNZ: Autumn (September 22).

The group introduced the seven-song Winter with the lead single “I Want a Dog.” Other titles are “Iambic Pentameter,” “Basketball,” “Sheraton Commander,” “Dark Enough to See the Stars,” “The One That Got Away” and “The Deep and Dreamless Sleep.” All of the songs were written by frontman Cuomo.

“Feeling… blue? We’ve got the remedy for your seasonal depression,” Weezer writes on Instagram.

“Each album has a very different vibe and lyrical theme,” Cuomo explained during an appearance on The Strombo Show in 2021 (quote via Guitar World), describing Winter as “lots of loss and despair and kind of quiet.” The band dug into creativity by recording and releasing the four acoustic EPs in real-time. They also hosted a seasonal residency on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where they would perform a song off the EPs following their release.

The four-pack EPs follow Weezer’s back-to-back studio albums released in 2021, beginning with OK Human in January and Van Weezer in May. The former album cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts, while the latter reached No. 1 on both charts.

Weezer has two festivals booked for 2023, appearing at Innings Festival in Tempe, Arizona, and Tampa, Florida, on February 25 and March 18, respectively, and Railbird Music Festival in Lexington, Kentucky, on June 3.

Photo by Ashley Osborn