“Getting Killed”: a new direction for rock band Geese

Since around November of last year, I’ve been seeing various music outlets rave about a band of 23-year-olds from Brooklyn, NY, christened Geese. After playing together since high school, they started to breakthrough with their third studio album “3D Country,” a dive into the aesthetics of classic blues rock. Lead singer Cameron Winter also received vast praise for his debut album “Heavy Metal”, released in late 2024, which exhibits a raw and personal writing style inspired by Leonard Cohen. “Getting Killed”, Geese’s fourth and most recent effort, incorporates the rawness of “Heavy Metal”, and creates stark stylistic change from previous works, diving into experimentation in the vein of bands like Television, Can
and Radiohead. This album made huge waves in the indie music space, and in mainstream outlets, with recent appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” bringing the band national attention.

Album opener “Trinidad” starts with Winter mumble singing over Emily Green’s staccato guitar, Dominic DiGesu’s steady bass, and the bizarre, 13/8 groove courtesy of Max Bassin on drums. Winter repeatedly shrieks out anxiously “There’s a bomb in my car!” as a psych-rock freakout peaks, then returns to the calmness of the intro, then peaks again. This quiet-loud dynamic shocks the listener and proves to be a strong opener. The lyrics introduce the themes of anxiety and paranoia through lines like “When that light turns red, I’m driving away” and “My daughters are dead.” The cacophony of “Trinidad” calms down on tracks “Cobra” and “Husbands” as Winter’s crooning provides a relief from the abrasiveness of the opener. The former invokes themes of romance and shame with dreampop-esque instrumentation, and the latter features a stomp-like feel from Bassin and subdued guitar from Green. The album continues with the mid-tempo experimental title track. Green’s guitar is at the forefront of the mix, with a distinct lack of reverb, and boosted treble and mids. Along with odd vocal samples throughout, these elements resemble tracks such as “15 Step” and “Reckoner” from Radiohead’s 2007 album “In Rainbows”. The line “I am trying to talk over everybody in the whole world”, captures the anxiety of Gen Z, as we live in a chaotic world of information overload which bombards the senses. “Islands of Men” discusses feelings of isolation and loneliness, building from a metronome click, and eventually morphing into a soaring jam with Winter proclaiming, “You can’t keep running away from what is real”, evoking the cathartic release of finally grappling with deep seated emotions head on and directly. “Au Pays Du Cocaine” and “Taxes” are album centerpieces for me. As a songwriter, these songs make me appreciate the craft and inspire me to experiment with lyrical imagery and instrumental dynamics. “Au Pays Du Cocaine” showcases Winter’s ability to invoke brutal heartbreak through sparse prose, and the lyrics pair perfectly with the soft and melancholic instrumental. The line “You can stay with me and just pretend I’m not there” portrays aformer lover or perhaps someone who cannot seem to let go of someone who is trying to push them away. Lead single “Taxes” is another massive achievement and my personal favorite song on the album. It begins with Bassin playing a rolling tom groove on the drums with subdued bass from DiGesu and slowly builds up until Green joins in and ushers the cathartic and joyful coda which slowly speeds up in tempo under intense drums, chiming guitar and concrete bass. The album closes with the epic 7-minute finale “Long Island City Here I Come” which gradually builds intensity and increases its tempo over its length. Bassin wails on his drumkit with athletic speed and precision, and the song culminates in a superb showing by the entire band with DiGesu’s melodic bass playing and Winter’s hypnotic and emotive singing. Winter emotively yells over the increasing tempo of the band, the song abruptly ends, and that’s “Getting Killed.”

This album absolutely floored me and is an incredible achievement for this young band. It is exciting to witness their growth in real time, and I am looking forward to seeing them realize their potential and stun me more than they already have. I cannot wait to try and see them this July in St. Paul.