Geese - Getting Killed Review
After the breakout brilliance of 3D Country, Geese double down on reinvention with a bold, chaotic and compelling third act.
New York City's Geese have become something of a commodity in recent years. Revered for their passionate outcries amongst bold arrangement, the five-piece from Brooklyn - Cameron Winter (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Emily Green (guitar), Sam Revaz (keyboard), Dominic DiGesu (bass) and Max Bassin (drums) - have serviced the alternative leftfield scene for many years. While the band have drawn preliminary comparisons to Gang of Four and The Rolling Stones in the past, Geese swear to never stay in one spot too long, for fear of these comparisons sticking. Instead, they push themselves to new heights with every record they've released, unfazed by the pressure to stick to the tried-and-tested; all the more eager to jump into the new and exciting.
A gritty introduction released in 2021, Projector saw the group finding themselves in the post-punk panache. The bands returned two years later with their follow-up 3D Country, a wholly-opposing form to its moodier older brother. From all angles, the record was a musical triumph. Avoiding the sophomore slump, the record fully leaned into the spacey, beefy indie twinge with many claiming it to be one of the better rock records released over the past few years. Centred around a wandering cowboy in the desert as his life unravels before him, the art-rock album surpassed any expectations all the while garnering a new set of doe-eyed crusaders to the journey. Before they knew it, heads began to turn as the vocal delivery and dynamic instrumentals stood out amongst the bang-average rest.
Seven years on since their tenure, today marks a new chapter as Geese change face again with Getting Killed, their third full-length studio album. With two records starkly different in contrast - including a surprise drop via a debut solo record from frontman Winter - we knew another swerve was on the cards here.
Tracked and finalised in just ten mere days at a LA studio, their third record sees the band fight against the chaos and the tender, as we see Getting Killed at their most formidable.
It's not just a record to keep up appearances, it's a record of intent from a set of young musician all hungry and fired-up ready to show their distinctive sound to the world once again. Referencing repent and religion throughout its eleven tracks, Getting Killed is a shaken fist to life's greatest quandaries.
Seemingly settling the age-old question whether Geese are a jam band or not, the record kicks into Trinidad - a fluid cacophony not too dissimilar to Beck and his experiments in the '90s. We have Keith Moon-esque percussion and screeching guitars on display here, before it all comes to a-head as Cameron howls "there's a bomb in my car!!" off a cliff edge.
The shambolic is met with the tenderness here as the woozy noodling in poignant Cobra eases the needle back. The punchy self-titled number is a vocal-heavy sleuth of individual expertise from its gargantuan production to its subtle Ukrainian choir sampling. A relentless doozy of incorporated funk, it is perhaps most reminiscent of fellow natives The Mooney Suzukis' standout Alive & Amplified at its base; another free-spirited band of fun.
Buckle up, it just gets more experimental from here on in. Islands of Men - a track they've actually been sitting on for quite a while - is a beautiful whimsy set to that wonderful two-stroke motif while 100 Horses paints a militant picture of a corrupt society behind furious repetitive strains. Au Pays du Cocaine plays out like nothing we've heard of before: a Spanish folk ballad in finding solace among refuge. A surely welcoming break from this records' many bouts of passionately irate performances.
Before too long, we come across the bands' most expansive track to date. The distinctive ghostly wail of Cameron Winter’s voice and Bassin's tribal drumming swoons in a triumphant roar of a glitzy lullaby-esque guitars as Taxes marches out a religious thesis on undeserving hardship and emotional healing. It's poignant, liberal and a proper feast on the ears. The record rounds out an 8-minute powerhouse of the band really getting into it. Undoubtedly, we hear his Heavy Metal-era explorations into this Geese project as Long Island City Here I Come bring together two frugal forces. An emotive Winter garbles and sneers through, "Hang me from a yo-yo/Or a rope, and I’ll be hanging by my neck all the same," while the rest of the band seemingly throw their instruments at the wall in a blaze of hedonism.
For those not expecting a vast change from 3D Country, I'd tread lightly on this one. However, for those open and eager for something different, I'd blast this all the way up to ten. Even with this amount of dissection, this record has so much to unpack. This is a multi-faceted, deeply layered working-out from a band who are far from formulaic. The band behind Getting Killed are all firmly aware of their sound and how best to get results from it. Fronted by a master craftsmen with a vocal range of the ages, Geese are on a trajectory of sonic stardom - and it's about time more people realised.