But the Beach Boys are by no means Weezer’s only source; the album holds allusions to all sorts of 1960s and 1970s memories (the Zombies, George Harrison, Todd Rundgren) alongside bits like the sped-up vocal samples Kanye West once favored. So “Pacific Daydream” is not exactly a throwback. Unlike last year’s “Weezer (The White Album),” it doesn’t cling to the illusion of a feedback-laced live rock band.

With Butch Walker (Pink, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift) as producer, Weezer has meshed its fondness for bygone pop eras with the digital arsenal available now. That includes samples and loops, suddenly transformed arrangements and a mix of live and probably programmed beats; the tracks make instant transitions between the physical and the virtual.

Weezer has been always conservative about form and wily about delivery, finding its place on the periphery. From its beginnings in the 1990s, Weezer made itself a band for the left-out and the uncool, the geeky guys who ended up noodling on a guitar instead of getting the dream girl. “QB Blitz” still empathizes with high-school ostracism; “I can’t get anyone to do algebra with me,” Mr. Cuomo sings, apparently basing his character on a Matt Christopher book.