Born in 2016, Geese has been one of the darlings of New York’s new art punk movement with their mix of punk, indie, and alternative country. They have been on the rise with their last album, “3D Country,” and additional EP, “4D Country,” and the lead singer, Cameron Winter’s solo project, “Heavy Metal.” All of this content came to critical acclaim for Winter’s serialist style of singing and music inspired by bands from the Windmill Scene of Manchester, United Kingdom. “Getting Killed” is their fourth studio album, first announced on July 8, 2025, along with the release of their first single, “Taxes.”
“Taxes” begins simply, with just drums and Winter’s vocals. Winter’s character says, “I Should Burn in Hell,” and “But I Don’t Deserve This/Nobody Deserves This,” which talks about his actions on the album that haven’t happened yet, setting up a nonlinear storyline, kind of like “Fight Club” or “Megamind,” showing the ending at the start of the film to then be resolved once it loops back around.
After this, guitars come to provide the melody before the next verse. Winter then talks about having to be nailed down to pay his taxes, which in this case refers to having a broken heart. This is supported by the later lines: “Doctor, Doctor, heal yourself,” where Winter wants a doctor to heal his broken heart, wanting to do anything but pay taxes, as in heal himself on his own. As soon as Winter says, “Nail me down,” the song enters an unexpected sound change, with more focus on the piano and Winter’s drawn-out vocals, making this hopeful and defiant until there is a breakdown of all the instruments at the end of the song. This song is a great view of what is to come..
After this single, the release date for the album was set for Sept. 26. During the wait, we got another single, “Trinidad.” Released on July 29, it also serves as the intro track for the album. It starts with simple drums with soft guitar riffs in the background before both the song and Winter yell at you, “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR,” with additional background vocals from none other than JPEGMafia. The bomb itself is more of a symbol of rebellion as Winter’s character wants to rebel from his life and move on to something better. His struggle is later described in the lines, “When I went deaf/I used my eye/They stood me in line/Till I went blind,” describing that he is losing all of his senses one by one because of societal influence and the neglect of the government. It’s a simple intro, yet it works great to show the chaos and calm that is to come.
A third single, “100 Horses,” was released a month before the album. This song focuses more on a denial of the government’s problems. This is shown in the lyrics: “All people must smile in time of war,” a satirical bit of propaganda to show how the government can ignore its people. The song’s sound is more in the blues style that was throughout “3D Country” with a focus on percussion, a clear theme that has become a motif throughout the tracks on the album. With these singles, it was clear the public was hyped and ready for this album, and when it was released, there were many great songs.
One of those tracks is “Au Pays du Cocaine,” French for “In the Land of Cocaine.” Despite the name, the song has nothing to do with cocaine. The song is more about Winter pleading for his partner to stay with him. This song connects to another track, “Cobra,” which is similar as it was a song of trying to make the partner stay, but offering limitless joy and acts of service to the partner. This is seen in the lines, “Let me dance away,” and “Let me wash your feet forever.” But now the song doesn’t offer anything, only pleading for them to stay with him. It seems that Winter knows that it’s not going to work out. In the refrain, he says, “Like a sailor in a big green boat.” This line should be impossible because green is considered unlucky by sailors, so knowing this, Winter is saying it is impossible to stay together. This is supported by how the song becomes more and more frantic, with the end having the drums feel like raging all around until they seem to give up at the end of the song.
The last track is “Long Island City, Here I Come” and is also the longest, serving as a fitting end. First played as part of Winter’s solo shows, his song brings in all of the craziness that was shown throughout the album and amps it up by six. As mentioned before, drums were a large motif that the band used throughout this album, and are made the main focus as it starts immediately with a simple but super repetitive and frantic beat and keyboard, which is later partnered with a bass. In the middle, the beat cuts out, leaving only the bass, before there is a total beat switch to a different, more frantic beat with more focus on the bass. The drums and piano become faster as the song comes to an end as suddenly as it had begun. Lyric-wise, this song is Winter accepting his fate. Long Island City is a nearby neighborhood of New York City, which is close to where Winter and the rest of Geese like to play, but in this song, Long Island City is used to refer to Winter’s death. He knows that it’s coming, but instead of trying to stop it, he decides to embrace it. This is seen in the very first line where he says, “Nobody knows where they’re going/Nobody knows where they’re going except me.” This theme, which is shown throughout the song of “moving on from something,” is the perfect conclusion to this album as it shows that he has killed his old self and moves on to something new, something that he wanted in the very beginning of the album in “Trinidad.” This, plus how perfect the album ends, makes me just love this album even more.
This album is nothing but hard and pure awesome-ness. From the very first song to even the album cover. This year has been crazy for music. I’m feeling a 9.5 out of 10. Listen and share.
