Weird Nightmare – Hoopla

When everything in our outside world right now feels pretty, well, weird, it can be refreshing to listen to music that sounds like a gentle, refreshing exhale. Alex Edkins, the creative force behind Weird Nightmare, approached his second full-length album with the intention of crafting straight-ahead pop songs with huge hooks that are easy to get into but impossible to put down.

Following his previous project, the dormant noise-rock institution METZ, Edkins has gradually softened some of the harder edges of his past work. But it didn’t just happen out of nowhere—his self-titled 2022 release, while less confrontational than his main project at the time, played with plenty of surging, dissonant guitars. He subtly indicated the direction his subsequent work would pursue, but no one exactly had “textbook power pop” on their bingo card to mark off.

Hence, the need for a breather. Hoopla might sound uncomplicated upon first listen, but Edkins delivers these tunes with such command and attention to detail that they elevate beyond mere imitation. Approaching jangly chords with a rock & roll stomp (“Never in Style”) and yearning, British Invasion-recalling ballads (“If You Should Turn Away”) with the same discipline, Edkins fluidly shifts from one sunny anthem to the next like turning a radio dial in the 1960s and 70s.

True to the genre’s roots, Edkins lends a sense of sweetness around memories of unrequited love as if flipping through the pages of a dusty photo book. “Drank your Mom’s whiskey until we couldn’t see/it’s been a lifetime I’m still trying to leave,” he recalls fondly on “Might See You There,” bringing forth a lunging, yet melodic 90s-style power chord progression accompanied by the vocal snarl of a garage rocker. But with sweetness also comes a little self-deprecation. Take the rifftastic “Pay No Mind,” one of the funnest tracks on here, in which he admits to being “so broke” before a big date night over a stop-and-go rhythm that would make the Knack proud.

While Edkins doesn’t seem eager to return to the more abrasive delivery of his former band, it does find ways to sneak into his arrangements as a part of his natural expression. “Little Strange,” the heaviest track on the album, does bear a resemblance to that project’s dynamic onslaught. And yet, its subtle surf guitar tone yields the rollicking bounce of a Marshall Crenshaw tune. How he manages to meld the two and create a unique spin on it is anyone’s guess.

What makes Hoopla so appealing, much like Edkins’ purpose of writing beaming guitar pop that sticks, is how Edkins sounds genuinely exhilarated from start to finish. Even up to the last track, “Where I Belong,” he continues to add cool little tricks like panning the track before it transitions to its final chorus. The sturdy, timeless pop Edkins accomplishes often gets taken for granted, which, really, is the doomed story of power pop in a nutshell. But for a good 30-plus minutes, he convinces you that its ability to please is undeniable.

Hoopla is out now via Sub Pop.