[rayword45]

Day 1030: 3D Country by Geese (Album Choice: robertsona)

Alright Rob, I'll give this one to you. Probably at least a few of the next batch of posts I slowly spew out my ass will be requests from other people, from fiffer or elsewhere. And while I'll try to give priority to 2023 stuff, I'll also try to mix it up with some stuff from other years as well.

When I first saw this request I was hesitant to try it, because I mixed this band up with Goose and I'm not much of one for jam bands. Thank god that I'm dumb because this is nothing close to a jam band, except for the genre-hopping and stylistic shifts that occur seemingly every track akin to a less goofy Ween. After a few listens, I can sorta break this up into three overarching song types, with variations within each category and overlap amongst the three.

The country-tinged cuts: This seems to be this band's bread and butter, at least on this album. However, for the most part it's my least favorite stuff on here. The songwriting on most of the countryish songs feels insincere in some way, kinda as if they don't REALLY like country and are just having a laugh. I doubt that was anywhere near the actual intent behind the songwriter's compositional process, but maybe it's that whole indie/slacker vibe that gives me pause. The slower ones are better than the faster ones for sure.

The stadium anthems: The most bombastic tracks on the album practically feel straight out of the 70s with their pomp and cheese. The same sort of indie detachment seems to permeate, but I mind it a lot less here, maybe because of my disdain for many classic rock elitists. This stuff is a lot of fun!

The weirdos: And then there are songs that are genuinely weird, noisy and sometimes psychedelic. This is where the album is the absolute best. It's not super esoteric, this is still pretty firmly in the "pop" category (by that I mean they use regular song structures, not that this sounds like assembly line radio pop or something) but it's the most earnest the band ever sounds AND it's the most unique and interesting stuff. I could take a whole album of their more punky styles and their weirdo freak-outs for sure.

On a somewhat related note, I've been seeing this band get compared to Black Midi a lot, but outside of both bands not seeming to take themselves overly seriously and a reliance on interlocking riffs, this reminds me a lot more of somewhere between Ween (as I mentioned before) and Modest Mouse. But comparisons are always a shitty shorthand way of describing a band's sound, and the more a band seems to be carving their own path, the less that shit will fit.

So, in summary, and I only said in summary to piss off any English teachers that some day come across this, cut out a majority of the most country-ish stuff and this would be golden. I did like this a lot more with each successive listen, so I look forward to whatever the band makes next.

Best Track: Mysterious Love
Rating: 7.5/10