Getting Killed is the fourth[a] studio album by American rock band Geese, released on September 26, 2025 on Partisan Records and Play It Again Sam. The album marked the band's first release as a quartet following the departure of guitarist Foster Hudson in late 2023 to pursue academia. It was recorded in January 2025, one month after the release of frontman Cameron Winter's debut solo album, Heavy Metal (2024), at producer Kenny Beats' Putnam Hill studio in Los Angeles.
Musically, it is categorised as a art rock, indie rock, and experimental rock album. The album was shaped by extended jam sessions and an emphasis on rhythmic repetition, abrasive textures, and unconventional song structures. Winter's vocal performance is a prominent feature, ranging from restrained crooning to strained, expressive outbursts, while the lyrics employ surreal imagery and recurring themes of violence, power, and transformation.
The album was preceded by the singles "Taxes", "Trinidad", and "100 Horses", and supported by a North American headlining tour beginning in October 2025. Upon release, the album was released to widespread critical acclaim. It was named among the best albums of 2025 by several publications, with The New Yorker and Stereogum placing it at number one.
Background
Following the release of their third album 3D Country (2023), Geese transitioned from a quintet to a quartet.[2] The departure of guitarist Foster Hudson on 22 December 2023, attributed to his decision to pursue academic work,[3] left frontman Cameron Winter, guitarist Emily Green, bassist Dominic DiGesu, and drummer Max Bassin as the band's core members.[4] With Hudson gone, Winter assumed a larger share of the guitar arrangements on the new material.[5] DiGesu and Green later described the lineup change as a motivating factor that compelled them to refine their collaborative approach.[6]
Geese's collaboration with producer Kenny Beats, a.k.a. Kenneth Blume, began informally in mid-2024, when Blume encountered the band's merchandise and became curious about their work. The two met at Austin City Limits in October 2024, where Blume expressed an enthusiasm for leaving imperfections intact—an attitude Winter regarded as a rare and liberating approach for a rock-adjacent producer.[6] Geese spent several days that November at Putnam Hill, Blume's newly built studio in Los Angeles, to develop preliminary demos. Blume initially found the material structurally chaotic, though his view shifted after hearing a solo project Winter released later that year, which clarified the songs' internal logic and convinced him of the project's potential.[6]
The release of Winter's solo album Heavy Metal on December 6, 2024[7] generated an unexpected impact of critical attention. Despite modest expectations from the label,[6] the album became a cult success[8][9] and was acclaimed for its songwriting and vocal experimentation.[10] Its reception drew new attention to Geese's work and heightened anticipation for their next release. He later stated that the success of the solo album increased his confidence and informed his intention to make Getting Killed a louder and more forceful record than its predecessor.[11]
Recording and production
Getting Killed was recorded and produced at Kenny Beats' studio (pictured)
Recording took place in January 2025 at the Putnam Hill studio,[5] and Getting Killed was produced by the band itself alongside Kenny Beats.[12] The overall process was recorded over a ten-day period, with the band working fourteen-hour days while the Southern California wildfires filled the Los Angeles air with smoke and ash.[6] Winter described the process as a "waking nightmare until it's mastered", and the band arrived with around twenty demos that were often incomplete, forcing them to write, restructure, and refine material in real time.[5] Much of the album emerged from extended thirty-minute jam sessions centered on repetitive grooves,[5][13] which Bassin characterized as explorations of patterns that "feel almost like they don't end".[11]
Blume, who is known for his work in hip-hop,[14] informed an emphasis on the rhythm section,[15] resulting in Bassin's drumming operating in what Under the Radar writer Mark Moody called "maximum overdrive"[16] and in bass and drum performances being tracked repeatedly until they could support the album's more experimental textures.[6] The production also incorporated deliberately abrasive or unconventional elements across the album. The group spent one session selecting a single handclap sample from a folder of roughly 7,000 options, an example they later noted had briefly delayed completion of the associated song. Winter's vocal recording process swung between extremes, with some takes captured immediately and others requiring more than forty attempts in order to push his voice into the desired emotionally frayed state.[5]
The opening track "Trinidad" establishes the album's volatile and chaotic tone.[13][27] It features jagged guitars,[27] explosive percussion,[20] erratic bursts of brass,[9] and layers of discordant noise.[25] Critics compared the sound to "Radiohead on PCP"[28] or a funk ensemble pushed into noise-rock extremes.[13] Winter's vocals alternate between languid phrasing and sharp, shrieking outbursts.[22] The refrain, "There's a bomb in my car!", forms one of the album's most memorable lines,[9][14] and the Australian musician Nick Cave remarked that the shift into the chorus creates a moment in which "all worry is laid to waste".[29][30] "Cobra" introduces a more melodic and relaxed atmosphere.[25][27] Its breezy textures recall a Beach Boys-adjacent palette,[20] while Winter's vocals adopt a crooning tone that Holly Hazelwood of Spectrum Culture interpreted as evidence of his potential as a "neo-crooner".[25] The song blends interlocking guitar melodies and nostalgia[31] with an attempt to subvert pop conventions.[22] "Husbands" is built on a steady, metronomic drum pattern and supple guitar lines reminiscent of the John Frusciante period of Red Hot Chili Peppers. It incorporates elements of gospel-inflected harmony, extended groove-based structure, and R&B-tinged lo-fi production.[22] The track conveys a sense of being burdened by a city for which there remains affection,[31] as reflected in Winter's line "I'll repeat what I say, but I'll never explain".[32]
The title track "Getting Killed" begins with an upbeat, crunchy rhythm before resolving into a more settled groove.[22] It features a blues-derived guitar line and a sampled Ukrainian choral[21] passage described by Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian as a "frantic pile-up of voices and grooves".[9] Writing for Exclaim!, Eric Hill likened the song's character to a "Julian Casablancas-fronted Black Crowes".[23] "Islands of Men" opens with a steady bass figure[31] and gradually develops its warm atmosphere over six minutes.[20] The track has been described as swaying boogie rock that transitions into something more ethereal as it proceeds.[15] "100 Horses", a rapid, high-energy piece[8] built on repetitive, militant grooves,[27] leans heavily into funk-inflected rhythm and percussive force.[32] Bassin's drumming dominates the arrangement,[31] and Winter's lyrics engage in a "pantomime of American imperialism",[4] with lines such as "There is only dance music in times of war" and "All people must die scared or else die nervous" linking the track to the album's broader critique of violence and power.[8][14] "Half Real" evokes a Tom Waits-like preacherly tone[16] and draws on a bar-room atmosphere[26] marked by drones reminiscent of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs".[20] Winter's vocal performance leans into a spoken-sung delivery as he contemplates extreme personal erasure: "I've got half a mind, to just pay for the lobotomy... I've got no more thinking to do".[33]
Described by MusicOMH's John Murphy as of the album's most subdued tracks,[32] "Au Pays du Cocaine" adopts a gentle, swaying mood and highlights Winter's baritone,[20] rendered in a manner akin to a post-punk crooner.[34] Its melodic structure recalls a folk lullaby.[33] The lyrics address a reluctant partner with lines such as "You can be free and still come home"[16] and "Baby you can change and still choose me".[32] "Bow Down" reintroduces a dense, energetic style, characterized by a sharp guitar-and-drum interlock[22] and a rhythmic language described by Murphy as "jerky math-rock".[32] The track reshapes a staccato riff into an off-kilter dance figure.[20] Winter addresses transformation and shifting identity through metaphors such as "I was a sailor, and now I'm a boat... I was a car, and now I'm the road",[13] giving the song a chant-like quality that reinterprets elements of the band's earlier post-punk style.[14] "Taxes" is constructed around a polyrhythmic introduction that abruptly opens into wide, chiming guitar arrangements.[26] The track has been described as a cathartic rock anthem,[31] with Winter's vocals combining desperation and melodic clarity.[35] The lyrics incorporate biblical references and bleak humor, exemplified by "If you want me to pay my taxes / You'd better come over with a crucifix / You're gonna have to nail me down".[4] "Long Island City Here I Come" builds in intensity and volume.[25][32] The final section features Winter's voice gradually receding[31] into a stream-of-consciousness monologue[32] involving images such as "Microphones hidden under your bed"[15] and apocalyptic anxieties.[33]
Release
On June 23, 2025, the band announced that the band would be embarking on a North American headlining tour in support of their forthcoming fourth studio album. The tour began in South Burlington, Vermont on October 10, and concluded in Brooklyn, New York on November 21. The album had not yet been formally titled at the time of the tour announcement;[2] it was officially announced on 8 July 2025, when Geese revealed the title and track listing and released the lead single, "Taxes". The song was accompanied by a music video featuring disorienting imagery of moshing crowds and staged violence, reflecting the album's abrasive and surreal tone.[36] On 24 July 2025, frontman Cameron Winter leaked the album's opening track, "Trinidad", during an Instagram Live stream filmed in Newport, Rhode Island. Winter stated that he wanted to deliver the song "directly to the people", and the track was subsequently issued through official channels shortly thereafter.[28] The song was officially released five days later, on July 29.[37] The final single released ahead of the album was "100 Horses", which arrived on 26 August 2025.[8] Its release coincided with the announcement of the European leg of the Getting Killed World Tour, scheduled for March 2026. The tour was set to begin on 3 March in Paris and included dates across mainland Europe, followed by five shows in the United Kingdom, including performances in Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, and London.[38] Additional dates were added in London and Glasgow following strong ticket demand.[39]
Getting Killed was released on September 26 through Partisan Records and Play It Again Sam.[36] A day after the album's release, the band played a free show in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, outside the headquarters of The Lot Radio. It was attended by thousands of people.[40] A music video for "Au Pays du Cocaine" was released on October 8, which depicted Winter interacting with a baby in a surreal domestic scenario.[41] Geese also supported the album with television and studio performances, including an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing "Taxes".[41] On 20 November 2025, the band became the first act in nearly three years to appear on Nigel Godrich's From the Basement series, recording a 35-minute set drawn largely from the album.[42]
Getting Killed has received acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Getting Killed received a rating of 89 out of 100 based on nineteen critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[44] Similarly, on AnyDecentMusic?, it received a rating of 8.7 out of 10, based on 22 reviews.[43]
Sam Sodomsky, writing for Pitchfork, designated the album with its "Best New Music" tag, writing that Getting Killed is Geese's "strangest and strongest work". He characterized the album as "anxious, fragmented music" that rejects traditional rock structures in favor of groove-driven repetition and abrupt emotional shifts, noting that the band balances paranoia, tenderness, and humor while embracing what he described as a "restless, untameable curiosity".[14]The Guardian's Rachel Aroesti gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that Getting Killed "can be opaque, but its brilliance is still obvious", praising its blend of sonic dissonance and surreal, sardonic lyricism.[9] Devin Birse, writing for The Line of Best Fit, wrote that Getting Killed is "the work of a real band", describing it as "Geese at their most honest and sincere" and arguing that it "cements them as no longer excellent imitators, but worthy equals".[15]
Rhian Daly from NME, wrote that Getting Killed is "another exhilaratingly free-spirited turn" for Geese, praising the band’s ability to balance "erratic but original" ideas while remaining in control of the album's shifting textures.[21] In a review published by Stereogum, Chris DeVille characterized Getting Killed as "an apocalyptic album for apocalyptic times". The critic emphasized the album's unruly structure and improvisatory drive, arguing that Geese push beyond conventional rock forms while retaining a sharp sense of irony, ultimately casting the band as "prospective messiahs for Gen Z rock 'n' roll".[13] Eric Hill from Exclaim! praised Geese's musicianship and flair for classic rock pastiche while suggesting that Getting Killed feels more like stylistic experimentation than a fully realized artistic statement.[23]
↑While this album is advertised by Geese as their third, and is their third under a record label, it is their fourth studio album counting their since-delisted 2018 debut album A Beautiful Memory.[1]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
