Let's get this out of the way right up front: Sonically, Geese's music is not the most approachable. The sound is odd and can be off-putting on a first listen. You sometimes get strange squeals of horns and vocals that sound like street poetry performed by a drunk Leonard Cohen. However, the more you pay attention, the more you find to unpack and enjoy. Just like a good book, Geese pulls you in.
My first experience with Geese was in 2022, at a performance with a crowd of about 20-30 people. The crowd didn't seem to know what to make of the band at first. For me, I thought frontman Cameron Winter's voice was a little strange, but something about their set kept me watching and engaged. Looking back on it, I think it was Winter's delivery and presence. He came off very assured and confident — it didn't matter that only 20 people were there. Also, they had a keytar, and that makes everything a little more interesting.
Fast forward to 2025 and their concerts have sold out venues like Brooklyn's Paramount and Philadelphia's Union Transfer, along with an upcoming appearance at Coachella next April. That's substantial growth as a band in three years' time. So what exactly is it that makes this band special?
Frontman Cameron Winter
Winter is an incredible songwriter. So much so that some critics are already calling him the songwriter of his generation. He's even garnered praise and appreciation from several bona fide songwriters that we play here at Studio One, including Jeff Tweedy, Nick Cave, Waxahatchee and Guster. His lyrics are truly inspired.
Take this example from the band's song "2122:" “God of the sun, I'm taking you down on the inside / When the Kali Yuga comes and closes / My eyes and we can die by the equine / Osiris of my life, I'm giving you the runaround / When the Ragnarök comes down and the sun and moon collide." It's deep and it's reference rich.
His lyrics are also relatable, and express genuine human emotion. Take this example from the song "Husbands:" “Yeah, there's a horse on my back / And I may be stomped flat / But my loneliness is gone / All my loneliness is gone.”
Winter's lyrics force you to listen carefully and keep you engaged. And the fact that he's captured the attention of critics and other songwriters alike for the depth and emotion in his songwriting speaks volumes.
Getting Killed: The band's current album
Geese’s third record, Getting Killed, is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2025. But it's not a record you'd expect to receive such universal praise. It’s a lounge lizard's fever dream that takes you to dark places, with lyrics including “getting killed,” “burning in hell” and having “a bomb in your car.” It's definitely not a sing-a-long album. But it's also really, really good. The songs flow seamlessly, and the lyrics are thought provoking.
Overall, Geese has more in common with The Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart than they do popular music of 2025. And yet — or perhaps because it's 2025, there's something about the combination of their sound and lyrics that is very alluring.
Breaking through the noise
Rock music goes through phases — it must to remain relevant. And throughout the decades, real rock music has consistently found a way to crack through, whether it's groups like R.E.M in the '80s, Nirvana in the '90s or The White Stripes in the '00s.
In 2025, thanks to social media and social media algorithms, it's ever more difficult for Art to break through to the people who may enjoy it. Trying to create content that doesn't follow social media's algorithms consistently results in failure. And frankly, we've become lazy in our consumption of art. Think about this — we’d rather have AI write lyrics for us, or be mildly amused by an AI songwriter being qualified for a shot on the charts, than we would to go to the trouble of breaking from the algorithm and the AI answers to find new creative wonders ourselves. The fact that Winter and Geese are finding a way to bend the algorithms to their will, to allow their Art to be widely consumed, is an impressive feat.
Winter recently covered Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” for an Xbox commercial, and Geese made news covering The New Radicals' “You Get What You Give.” It’s not very often that a band covers Springsteen or an out-of-pocket '90s song and makes big news doing it, but this band has an ability to keep getting — and keeping — attention.
I can't wait to see what happens with Geese and Winter in the coming years and how their legacy shapes up over time. As of right now I’m happy that they're around, creating music that isn’t easy to love and yet becomes ever more alluring. We need more genuine artists, and this band's on to something that might make that happen.
