Photo by Kyle Berger
Geese are back! The Brooklyn 5-piece have just released their first single since their 2021 debut album ‘Projector’ and are gearing up for two sold-out Mercury Lounge gigs on 2/24 and 2/25.
The single is called “Cowboy Nudes” and continues their movement of refreshing indie rock grooves. Unlike their ‘Projector’ album, the tone on “Cowboy Nudes” is lighter and takes you out of the city streets and onto the highway. Geese frontman Cameron Winter says that the track is about “life getting better, and more fun, after the end of the world.”
What I appreciate about this song is how it shows a new band who’s found their footing but aren’t stepping in the same footprints. It tells me that there’s more to come from this album and they aren’t going to be a “one and done” kind of band. I’ve always been a huge Strokes fan, but even they might’ve been too afraid to bank on themselves over their own sound which resulted in ‘Room on Fire’: a great, but vastly similar album to ‘Is This It.’ Instead of capitalizing on the sound they established with their first album, they’re doubling down to bring something new to the second album. And for the record, I love ‘Room on Fire.’
Geese is ambitious with “Cowboy Nudes” as it covers more musical ground than they had prior. In the verses, the band steps out into a more melodic open-air feel, which is complemented by an acoustic guitar solo after the first chorus. They then return to their New York roots with the first of two percussion-filled LCD Soundsystem-inspired bridges. In the second verse, they wanted to add something “Eastern-sounding” and if you listen closely, you’ll hear a sitar that they brought in after it had been “lying around since high school.” The band’s sound is wide-ranging and tasteful without sounding all over the place. It leaves plenty of room to grow and gives the listeners a sample of the road their sophomore album will take us on.
