Weezer, “SZNZ: Spring.”

Here we are in 2022: the pandemic drags on, war rages in Europe, the rich tapestry of human civilization frays with economic upheaval… what’s Weezer up to? Glad you asked. Rivers Cuomo and company have challenged themselves to put out four seasonally themed albums in a single year. The first installment, SZNZ: Spring, drops Sunday (the spring equinox) and features seven short songs all composed and recorded very recently, and all centered on warming, blooming, picnicking; that kind of crap.

Kicking things off, the acoustic guitar and renaissance-faire flute of “Opening Night” sets the mood with a vibe so saccharine sweet your teeth will hurt. Over an acoustic chord progression that Ned Flanders might find a little too milquetoast for his taste, Cuomo sings to the melody of Vivaldi’s “Spring,” “Shakespeare makes me happy, and I’m happy to be with you.” If they razzed the guy over his Buddy Holly glasses, imagine how they’ll savage him for lines like, “We lay down in the grass for Henry the Fourth Part I.” Later in the song, we learn that the bard’s other characters including Hamlet, Rosalind and Falstaff also make Cuomo happy. How seriously can you take a rock singer telling you Hamlet makes him happy? Hamlet can’t even make Hamlet happy.

Obviously, Cuomo is a concept guy, God bless him. Apparently Puccini’s 1904 opera, “Madame Butterfly,” provides the narrative arc for the band’s 1996 masterpiece (don’t @ me), Pinkerton. But this is, like, really conceptual, which is a good thing. Cuomo and company are clearly thinking way outside the box on this one. They’re also having a blast. And they’ve obviously gotten really good at making records.

There are some tiny musical treasures to be found sprinkled throughout the short album. The delicate dulcimer and whispered melodies in the last 10 seconds of “The Sound of Drums” easily eclipse the song’s rootsy acoustic “you’re about to watch a show about old tools on PBS” vibe from its outset. At the end of “All This Love,” Cuomo sings over delicate interplay of guitar and piano. The musical moment is gentle, complex and over too soon.

“All This Love” also feels the most Weezer-esque of the songs on the album, both in terms of the music and the lyrics. “With a key and a kite/ Waiting for lightning to strike/ Camping out in the field by my house/ I forgot how to live/ How to love/ How to give/ How to sing with a mask on my mouth,” Cuomo sings over galloping guitar and piano. The mask reference is a nice reminder that this music is freshly hatched, and COVID-incubated.

Other songs on the album challenged my cynicism and lost. The relentless cheerfulness of “A Little Bit of Love” feels like Hallmark movie montage music. “Now the winter’s frost is gone/ Now is the chance to live the life we want,” Cuomo sings. As Hemingway wrote at the end of “The Sun Also Rises,” “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

“Garden of Eden” begins with bird songs, because of course it does. And it feels a little like a Buddy Holly (the singer, not the song)/Everly Brothers/Mumford and Sons mashup. Midway through, Cuomo lets us know he hasn’t “felt this good since velcro shoes came along.”

Apparently the band hasn’t even begun the writing and recording of the next SZNS installment, Summer, which of course will be followed, God willing, by Autumn and Winter. It’s nice to see a band challenge itself in this way. Good for them. But, Weezer, if you’re listening, please be careful. Remember what happened with “Beverly Hills.”

Follow writer David Gill at Twitter.com/songotaku.