New York indie rockers Geese make a triumphant return with their third studio album

Last year, Cameron Winter, the frontman and vocalist for Geese, released a solo album titled Heavy metal, to critical acclaim with Pitchfork describing it as “a careful juxtaposition of casual virtuosity and soul-scouring catharsis,” and YouTuber Anthony Fantano describing Winter as “a fantastically oddball solo artist.”  Hot off the heels of this success, Winter has returned to Geese for their third studio album, Getting Killed. 

The band has been releasing music since 2018, first gaining widespread recognition with 2023’s 3D Country. However, Getting Killed is a completely different listening experience. 

What is most interesting about Getting Killed is how experimental it is. All throughout the album, one can find examples of pop-like instrumentation, and seemingly improvised sections reminiscent of a live show. Some of the production seems somewhat hip-hop inspired, almost certainly due to the band’s collaboration with Kenneth Blume, who formerly operated as a rap producer under the name Kenny Beats.  

All of this can be seen on the album’s opening track and the second single released for the album, “Trinidad”. This is a strange listen to say the least, after all the hook is essentially guest vocalist and indie rap legend JPEGMAFIA screaming “There’s a bomb in my car!” The song continues with Winter mumbling through frighteningly esoteric lyrics (“My son is in bed, my daughters are dead, my wife’s in the shed, my husband’s burning lead”) 

Needless to say, not a typical track in any genre really.  

This is not inherently too surprising; it is hardly the strangest album an indie rock band has released. No, the really incredible thing is how popular this album became. Getting Killed charted in the top 100 for the US, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, and Scotland, the latter in which it peaked at No. 6, the first geese album to do so, despite 3D Country being arguably far more “typical.” 

The first single released for the album was “Taxes”.  The song that starts out fairly barebones then opens up into a beautiful repeated guitar line. The lyrics are, as will become a theme for this album, very strange, as Winter mumbles in his signature style lines such as “if you want me to pay my taxes, you’ll have to come over with a crucifix” which seems to, along with other lines (“Doctor, heal yourself”), describe an exorcism, while also portraying a refusal to conform to societal norm. 

 The next single was the aforementioned Trinidad, followed by “100 horses.” This song is a complex, interconnected metaphor about freedom, with the titular 100 horses representing true freedom by choosing to dance, in contrast to “all people” who “must dance in times of war,” as vocalist Cameron Winter intones.  

Throughout the rest of the album, many of the best moments come when the band really goes wild with instrumentation and tempo. The final song, the six-minute “Long Island City Here I Come,” is an unrelenting march forward to “Long Island city,” which metaphorically represents death. “Bow Down” is perhaps the most sinister track on the album, with Cameron telling a story about “bow[ing] down to maria’s dead bones,” a concept that seems to, again, refer to death. This song really shows Geese’s affinity for irregular, linearly progressing songs.  

The one point that Getting Killed struggles a little bit is in some of their slower songs. “Au Pays Du Cocaine” is a heartbroken ballad, and one of my personal favorites, but “Half Real” is, for the most part, a decidedly half-baked love song, and one which unfortunately falls into cliche. While “Cobra” is a heartfelt love song, and one of the sweetest cuts, it is admittedly a little less revolutionary than some of the other cuts here. 

Overall, Getting Killed is a thoroughly enjoyable listen, and one that will surely provide the same level or greater levels of enjoyment on subsequent listens. The album is undoubtedly best experienced as an entire package, but many of the songs are playlist-worthy. I will admit that not everyone will enjoy every track on the 45-minute LP, simply due to the wide variety of styles to be found. However, in terms of rock albums, particularly indie and art rock albums this year, I’ve been hard pressed to find an album better than this.  

image credit: Geese