Lafayette, King's Cross
"We got on a plane to be here."
The 5-piece saunter in as if they have just stepped off the plane from Heathrow. Masking a disposition of indifference toward the sold-out crowd, the latest product of NYC’s emerging rock scene, Geese, try their utmost to play it cool and seethe under the radar at the nation’s capital.
A sweetened aura of hazy vintage-rock caresses us into tonight's starter, 'Domoto', beheld with delicate falsetto ranges (a-la Thom Yorke) breathed to life by frontman Cameron Winter. Before long, Winter suddenly surges into cataclysmic screams of confessional love (“20 pounds of glass in my eye / Mysterious love!”), deemed stricken from the heart of a 60’s psychedelic-rock star.
Winter’s blasé attitude croons with conviction throughout (“You prefer Woody Harrelson or Matthew McConaughey?”), undeniably so in one of tonight’s crown jewels, ‘Cowboy Nudes’, an ode to the art-rock’s scene which screams of Julian Casablancas, pierced by a seismic breakdown (“New York City!”). With such tracks, Geese seem set on revising the once-upon-a-time rock movement beholden to their hometown, now painted over with streaks of alt-country and modern art-rock vibrating to the colourful paths of Parquet Courts, even if the extra percussion and vocal harmonies seem amiss tonight.
For the latter genre, it’s not too difficult to discern the unmistakable influences (and progression thereof) the band have harnessed since their debut, Projector, in 2021. With ‘Disco’s uncanny likeness to Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’ and ‘Rain Dance’s colourful reminiscence to that of Animal Collective or MGMT, Geese fully display tonight the true depth of their repertoire of late - and the strides taken since. Their recent venture into alternative country and blues rock within this year’s LP, 3D Country, proves gripping and, if nothing else, offers a blueprint for an enticing revision and conglomeration of these genres for a modern audience hungry for something unashamedly familiar yet brazenly new.
Amongst the chaos of crowd-inclusive chanting and incessant to-ing-and-fro-ing jostled within the audience, Geese’s encore at last offers some respite. A 7-minute digression into their laissez-faire facade, ‘Undoer’ writhes in psychedelic undertones, transcending the likes of The Doors and Mothers of Invention before unleashing ‘St. Elmo’ which invites in the effortless swelling of instrumentals, cascading like a sweat-drenched river upon the audience for a cooling finale.
Such freewheeling, rock-binding sets are a rarity these days (beyond the trite renditions of Greta Van Fleet) and Geese seem by their very nature to defy and invite all such influences and inspirations to their party. Unfazed by the stifled crowd packed into tonight’s intimate setting, the band seemed lost in their own seismic trance: at times captivating; at other points, submerged in superfluous drumming. But for this relatively up-and-coming act, an indefinite amount of potential should be assigned - ones who care less about spilling, making a mess and more about extending invites to any and all for an indelibly unique experience (flights not included).
8.5/10
Geese's latest LP, 3D Country, is out now via Partisan Records and can be found below.
Photo is courtesy of Bella Keery whose work can be found here.
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