Get ready for chaos with Geese’s ‘Getting Killed’
The band return with their third album.
Photo: Lewis Evans
Good morning, Trinidad. Welcome to Getting Killed. A frenzied entrance to this highly anticipated new album from the genre-bending Brooklyn rock band. I say ‘rock’ very loosely, as this young group have already proved over various releases since their 2016 meeting that they can grapple with and convincingly execute a lorry-full of sounds and textures simultaneously. “Get in, let’s drive, there’s a bomb in my car” is heard being screeched over the untamed primal chaos that is witnessed on track one. I suppose we should buckle up, people.
After various self-released efforts in 2018 and 2019, Geese had plans to attend college, until, to their surprise, they were bombarded with offers and attention from some major labels. In the end, they chose to sign with Partisan and proceeded to release two further albums (Projector, 2021, and 3D Country, 2023) prior to this release. Now, some may argue this attention is due to the supremely unique sounds emanating from frontman Cameron Winter’s vocal chords, but in Emily Green (guitar), Dominic DiGesu (bass), Max Bassin (drums), Geese have a mesmeric rhythm section, capable of conjuring up cataclysmic howls and then seamlessly pulling you back to the safety and solitude of calmer melody.
This is shown in the guitar part in track number two, Cobra, a beautiful piece that caresses you back from the edge of the world after the apocalyptic pandemonium of the opener. In his trademark melodic warble, Winter professes that “you can make the cobras dance, but not me”, epitomising further the mysterious untouchability of this maverick vocalist.
For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, Cameron Winter’s Heavy Metal — also released on Partisan Records — was arguably the highlight of 2024. An album of wise defiance from a 22-year-old who seemingly found his voice, a new voice in the expansive wastelands of singer-songwriters, through an eclectic collection of tracks that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.
I see a clear line from 3D Country, a fantastic rock album full of swagger, on to Heavy Metal’s wistful wanderings, and now to Getting Killed. In Husbands we see a perfect bridge across those three albums. It feels hymn-like in its nature carefully remoulded into the rock formula, if that’s even possible. For Geese, maybe it is. This theme continues in the title track. A Ukrainian choral backing sample is heard behind Winter’s exuberant proclamations on themes of love and death. Where is the stained glass? Where is the altar?
In true Geese fashion, on Islands of Men we are wrenched back down to a low-lying staccato rhythm, coupled with the ever-present vocal bliss, and then a sudden heavy dosage of bass and drums from Di Gesu and Bessin. The movement in the rhythm is insidious, driving the vocal line like a dancing cobra weaving from the basket, threatening us with its venomous strike, shrieking “you can’t keep running away from what is real and what is fake”. For a band that is notoriously obsessive when it comes to the small details of recording, Geese have rustled up a sparse gem here with less thrills than are often required.
When 100 Horses was released in late August, it was clear that Getting Killed would offer a nod to some of the rock greats of the past, presented illusively yet violently in a new format. Its muddied sound seems like it was born behind the drug-stained walls of Villa Nellcôte — yet its themes are more present and apparent than ever with the admission that “General Adams told me, you were born to die scared”. Winter is assuming his role as doomsday prophet in this captivating piece of work.
These fears are quelled in Au Pays du Cocaine — a folk-fuelled lullaby affirming there’s comfort in solitude and freedom, but also in good company. If you were thinking about sleeping, then think again — Bow Down lands on you like a bucket of icy water. An extremely tight rhythm provides the vehicle for Winter’s performance. There’s an injection of anger in this, reminiscent of Dylan’s Idiot Wind: “You don’t know what it’s like to bow down”. It seems the dream is turning towards a nightmare. Yet it shows their power as a foursome: if Winter is the long-haired prince on water skis, the other three are a slick speedboat slicing through the waves and creating the path for their troubadour behind.
Just as you feel as though you need to come up for air, you find yourself at the penultimate song of the album and arguably its most recognisable. Taxes has an undeniable power. The four New Yorkers have painted an immense and revelatory picture — one of repentance and regret, but served up with a side of self-belief: “I should burn in hell, but I don’t deserve this”. The drumbeat and Green’s ravishing guitar work combined with the rawest vocal performance on the album propel you into an otherworldly realm. That realm is once again thrown in the blender in the Long Island Here I Come. Snarling, jeering, crying — it’s all there jam-packed into one heady climax, leaving you completely bereft and giddy with exhaustion.
Getting Killed truly is an expansive expression of honesty and emotion from a group of supremely talented and outgoing musicians. Geese are definitely here to stay, but they will not stay in one place for very long. Try and catch them if you can, I dare you.
Getting Killed is out now via Partisan Records.