Sad? Empty? Then have your fill of The Geeks today, because if you’re the wallowing type, their jangly-skippy new outing will rub salt on the wound, and, simultaneously, soothe it, too.
Another Geeks tune. Another lackadaisical-on-the-outside/anxious-on-the inside homage to the deities of geek rock. And what’s wrong that? I’d like to know. ‘Cause here they go again. “All My Favorite Songs,” the new single from the beloved indie quartet, is a catalogue of recent-memory reminiscences that won’t be out of place among genre hallmarks like “Surfer Girl”-era Beach Boys, Ciudad’s Is That Ciudad? Yes, Son, It’s Me, and Weezer’s Blue Period.
And speaking of Weezer, yes, a similarly titled tune appears on the band’s Radiohead-referencing OK Human from 2021. And, yes, it’s sort of a stab at ars poetica, which is to say, an exposition of what makes them tick as a creative unit. And what apparently makes Rivers Cuomo & co. tick—in their song choices, at least—are tunes that are “slow and sad.”
What The Geeks have in their hand, on one level, is a renga-like response to that—as opposed to the OK humans of Weezer, what makes Jam Lorenzo & co. tick are songs that are “sad and empty”—but, also, an unpacking of a private life that serves as ballast for a fairly public one. The jangly, piano-doubled, serial-verse affair is nursery-rhyme-memorable, inescapable in both hook and sentiment, and, most importantly, conceptually modular.
And what I mean is this: Like the gentlemen of The Geeks, we’ve all had favorite shows end and favorite spots close down—and we’ve all had to wrangle between moving on and holding on, which is what life and romance and growth are all about—and, ultimately, we’ve all seen these turnarounds get accelerated over the past three calendar years.
“The song vaguely explores how it feels […] to grow old in the middle of a pandemic, where everything you love is ending and the future remains uncertain. Lyrically, it’s a simple song sung from [the] perspective of someone who remains in denial and unable to fully flesh out their emotions,” the band further expounds in a statement.
“AMFS,” they add, initially wasn’t a shoo-in choice for a single, but the song endeared itself to the band and their friends when it served as score (as swan song, really) for the last Redverb fundraising show. Incidentally and fittingly, the forthcoming music video also doubles as a love letter to the beloved studio-cum-creatives-lab, which tragically bit the dust during the thick of the pandemic.
While waiting with bated breath for The Geeks’ new record Sitcom Theme Songs—which will likely sport future new favorite songs—spin “All My Favorite Songs” today.