Getting killed by Geese

“There’s a bomb in my car!” is a memorable chorus start to your band’s highest anticipated album yet. 

The band Geese is based in New York City, and the bustling electric feeling of the busy streets is present in their music. The eleven-track album “Getting Killed” by Geese came out September 26th, 2025. This is the group’s third and most eccentric album to date. The group consists of Cameron Winter on vocals, keyboards, and guitar, Emily Green on guitar, Dominic DiGesu on bass, and Max Bassin on drums. 

 Geese is a one-of-a-kind band. Not to be confused with Goose, another American rock band from the East Coast. Geese has a remarkable way of denying the traditional rock music structure. They utilize stream of consciousness lyricism, nonsensical imagery, metaphors, and psychedelic guitar riffs. 

The rise of Geese’s popularity comes from the release of their second album in 2023, a blues-inspired indie rock album titled “3D Country.” The resounding success of lead singer Cameron Winter’s 2024 solo album “Heavy Metal” also contributed to Geese’s growing popularity.

The opening track, “Trinidad,” puts the listener on edge. Low rhythmic guitar over an ominous beat featuring drooping trumpets, then the aforementioned chorus screams the slightly concerning chorus. The artist JPEGMAFIA is featured on this track and provides background vocals of deep guttural screaming.

The switch-up is immediate into the second track, “Cobra.” What appears to be a love song slowly reveals melancholic undertones. In this song, Winter equates one lover enticing the other to snake charming. One example is the lyric “You can make the cobras dance, but not me.” The contrast of these two songs foreshadows the general theme for the rest of the album. 

The song “Husband” directly follows “Cobra” with its melancholy tone and sudden end to the admiration described in the previous song. He discusses holding onto this relationship that isn’t benefiting him or the other party.

 “And if my loneliness shall stay / Some are holiest that way.” The speaker believes he’ll find salvation in his solitude. Many biblical figures spent prolonged periods alone to allow them to pray and connect with God.

The next track, “Getting Killed,” immediately grasps the listeners’ attention once again. It begins with a sample of a Ukrainian choir over heavy drums. The speaker uses peculiar language: “I am taking off my pants, I’m getting out of this gumball machine.”

This can be interpreted as an allegory for modern life, looking sweet and colorful on the outside but cramped, uniform, and commodified on the inside. The ending line to the song adds, “I’m getting killed by a pretty good life.” 

This reflects the album’s theme of life as viewed from the outside versus the inner reality of a capitalist society that can’t care for him properly, exploiting him. 

“Islands of Man” begins with a buildup of percussion. In this low-toned song that deals with struggling with one’s identity, the narrator repeats “You can’t keep running away.” 

This is a reference to the poem ”No Man is an Island” by John Donne,  which compares self-isolation to an island. No man is entirely self-sufficient; all humans need social connections for their well-being. 

“100 Horses” takes the perspective of a soldier fighting during a war. Winter starts off by giving the command “All people must smile in times of war.” Later, speaking to two generals, Adams and Smith, who tell him he was born to die scared, and that he’ll never smile again. 

Being commanded to smile in a time of struggle represents the American taboo of feeling negative emotions.

“Half real” dwells on Winters’ past relationship, again. This time, he imagines his ex’s new partner’s perspective on Winter. Downplaying the affection Winter had for his partner, saying it was only half real. Winter reiterates how this past relationship lingers in the back of his mind, evident by how much it’s brought up on the album. 

At the end of this song, Winter wants his mental turmoil to end, to finally stop dwelling on this person. “I’ve got half a mind to just pay for the lobotomy / Get rid of the bad times / And get rid of the good times too, I’ve got no more thinking to do.”

“Au Pays du Cocaine” is a callback to the second track, “Cobra.” He begins by begging the subject in the relationship from “Cobra” to come back. 

“You can stay with me and just pretend I’m not there,” the lyrics read. 

He’s pleading to compromise with his former lover, not wanting them to feel trapped in their relationship, but to grow together. He also compares being a sailor in a green boat, traditionally an unlucky color for sailors because of its relation to land and a sign that their ship is molding, to being free but still choosing their relationship. 

“Bow Down” is a continuation of “Au Pays du Cocaine.”  Finishing his sailor metaphor, he sings, “I was a sailor, and now I’m a boat.”

 He’s gone from controlling the ship to being the ship, keeping someone else afloat while losing any control he previously had as the sailor. 

“Taxes,” the next track on the album, was first a single released on July 8th, 2025. Winter starts the song, portraying all his wrongdoings in his life and the guilt he feels in response. He knows he’s done wrong, but he wants to forgive himself and move on. “If you want me to pay my taxes / you better come over with a crucifix.” A jam section leads to a final epiphany and a promise: “I will break my own heart from now on.”

“Long Island City Here I Come” is packed full of biblical references, Long Island City itself being a metaphor for death. Winter has a brief conversation with Joan of Arc, in which she tells him that “God has lots of friends / He’ll probably forget he’s met you before.” 

In Joan of Arc’s case, her relationship with God led to her fighting in battle for Him. After her quest, God seemingly abandons her, allowing her life to end by being burned at the stake. Winter also grapples with his fate, fearing abandonment by God. 

Getting Killed twists through genres, combining rock breakdowns with classical piano. They keep it interesting, switching between time signatures 4/4, 12/8, and 6/8.

Spontaneity is a key influence. They aren’t classically structured songs, mostly line by line, until Cameron Winter finishes rambling. 

I believe this album paves a new road in this generation’s rock and roll scene. Cameron Winter’s songwriting keeps the audience entranced and a little confused. While the band paints a landscape of rhythms.

 “Geese are the best thing to happen to rock and roll in a long time,”  a song reviewer, @shepgold on TikTok, said.