Getting Killed

Getting Killed is the fourth studio album by the 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 Kenneth Blume's Putnam Hill studio in Los Angeles. Musically, it is categorised as an 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 further supported by the singles "Cobra" and "Au Pays du Cocaine", and a headlining tour beginning in October 2025. It received critical acclaim, and was named among the best albums of 2025 by several publications, with The New Yorker and Stereogum placing it at number one. Commercially, it charted at number 96 on the Billboard 200, and topped the UK Independent Albums Chart.

Getting Killed is the fourth studio album by the 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 Kenneth Blume's Putnam Hill studio in Los Angeles. Musically, it is categorised as an 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 further supported by the singles "Cobra" and "Au Pays du Cocaine", and a headlining tour beginning in October 2025. It received critical acclaim, and was named among the best albums of 2025 by several publications, with The New Yorker and Stereogum placing it at number one. Commercially, it charted at number 96 on the Billboard 200, and topped the UK Independent Albums Chart.

Background

Following the release of their third album 3D Country (2023), Geese transitioned from a quintet to a quartet. The departure of guitarist Foster Hudson was formally announced on 22 December 2023, attributed to his decision to pursue academic work, leaving frontman Cameron Winter, guitarist Emily Green, bassist Dominic DiGesu, and drummer Max Bassin as the band's core members. With Hudson gone, Winter assumed a larger share of the guitar arrangements on the new material. DiGesu and Green later described the lineup change as a motivating factor that compelled them to refine their collaborative approach. Geese's collaboration with producer Kenneth Blume, Kenny Beats, began informally in mid-2024, when Blume encountered the band's merchandise and became curious about their work. The two met at the Austin City Limits Music Festival 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. 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. The release of Winter's solo album Heavy Metal on December 6, 2024 generated an unexpected impact of critical attention. Despite modest expectations from the label, the album became a cult success and was acclaimed for its songwriting and vocal experimentation. 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.

Critical reception

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". Similarly, on AnyDecentMusic?, it received a rating of 8.7 out of 10, based on 22 reviews. 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". The Guardian 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. 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". Writing for Beats Per Minute, John Amen gave the album a "recommended" score, writing that, with Getting Killed, "Geese radicalize the conventional, adopting recognizable approaches but with that insurrectional flair so integral to their DNA". 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. 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". 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.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Geese

Max Bassin – drums, production Dominic DiGesu – bass, production Emily Green – guitar, production Cameron Winter – vocals, guitar, keyboards, production, mixing, back cover photo

Additional contributors

Charts

Certifications

Notes

References

External links

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1368548750 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.