It can feel like nothing’s “new” or “exciting” in this age of online overstimulation, but one band is rising to the challenge.
On Sept. 26, Brooklyn-based band Geese released their third album, Getting Killed. As one of indie music’s most unique up-and-coming acts, Geese’s new project was highly anticipated by fans. The album’s lead single, “Taxes,” earned over three million streams on Spotify after it was released on July 8. Getting Killed doesn’t disappoint. Through inventive arrangements and frenetic, mysterious lyrics, Geese creates an atmosphere of duelling tension and ennui. The album presents a version of rock and roll beautifully shaped to the absurdity of this current moment.
The album kicks off with “Trinidad,” its second single. A moody backbeat undercuts lead singer Cameron Winter’s soft, Thom Yorke-esque vocals. The song explodes into Winter’s chorus: “There’s a bomb in my car!” which eventually habituates the listener to its jarring strangeness. That’s what makes Geese’s songwriting good on Getting Killed: they throw everything at the wall, sonically.
Geese doesn’t stick to one rhythm or mood too long. On “Taxes,” they change time signatures mid-track to accompany a beautiful guitar riff and vocal harmonies, the audio equivalent of clouds parting to reveal the sun. Geese allows listeners some of this warmth on upbeat, romantic tracks like “Cobra” and “Au Pays du Cocaine,” but it sneakily undercuts major chords and faster drums with menacing lyrics. “I’m getting killed by a pretty good life,” Winter sings on the album’s title track to groovy guitars and maracas.
Though meaning is obscured in many of the album’s lyrics, this seems to be Getting Killed’s thesis: that in a world filled with uncertainty and darkness, one of the greatest threats to life is failing to really live it. With unprecedented access to other people’s lives online, it can feel in the current day like your own life is contextualized by everyone else’s. “I can’t even hear myself talk / I’m trying to talk over everybody in the world,” Winter sings on “Getting Killed.”
But while Winter’s vocals reference excruciating anxiety in some songs, the project isn’t too self-aware. Few, if any, of its tracks are radio-friendly. No riff or chorus is especially catchy, but all are compelling—a rare feat in modern rock music. I can feel the excitement of the outro to “Bow Down” in my chest each time I listen. Many of the beats inspired me to dance, but with more jerking and elbow-jabbing than I would use publicly.
It’s fitting that Geese uses rock, a musical genre that has long contained the social anxieties and grievances of generations past, to espouse feelings of social discontent. “All people / In times of war / Must go down to the circus,” Winter sings on “100 Horses.” Getting Killed isn’t political, but it is keenly aware of the tension the world is experiencing politically, and how these tensions are reflected in art. “There is only dance music in times of war,” Winter asserts in the same song.
Getting Killed asserts itself as a masterclass in modern rock by balancing euphoric, intense self-expression with witty, interesting songwriting. Its quick changes in tempo and mood are thrilling without numbing the listener. This can be a refreshing change of pace for listeners with dopamine-soaked doom scrolling habits. The rapid pace of current events, information exchange, and trend cycles can be dizzying, but we’ve no choice but to persist. “I have no idea where I’m going / Here I come,” Winter sings on the final track, “Long Island City Here I Come.”
Ultimately, Getting Killed sharpens listeners’ focus on the absurdity of present day without offering escapism. It’s a strong performance from Geese, a band just earning its wings in the indie scene.
And since they’re already working on their next album, it seems Geese’s unique sound will continue to define rock music in the years to come.
Tags
Album review, Geese, Getting Killed, indie, Music, rock
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