The Weekly Coos

Geese’s new album 3D Country brings reflections of a band continuously looking for ways to deliver music through unique conceptions and convictions within the instrumentals; it becomes hard not to find some attraction to their sound. Projector, their debut, bolstered these gloomier punk-rock and art-rock constructions, and though the latter continues with 3D Country, it brings flavor to the different sonic directions, interconnecting instruments smoothly. As noted by New Musical Express (NME), “the story of an uptight cowboy as he wanders through the desert after taking psychedelic drugs, watching the world around him – and his concept of the self – unravel in the process” – as it takes you through it, the sounds are profound, despite the concept some times waning thin lyrically. For one, it’s fantastic to hear the band try to take a different approach, delivering something fresh and new instead of building off the known to keep the trend constant. Geese bring an understanding of where the music wants to go, though stepbacks toward slightly conventional punk rock leave it feeling lesser than their debut, and not by much.

On 3D Country, Geese occasionally brings more life to some, and others waver back to slightly conventional punk rock and alternative notes through a journey-filled concept. When you get shots of the former, you feel there’s proper footing in the direction they aim for, like with the title song, which goes above and beyond to implement different rhythms with varying percussion instruments, taking you to new levels than expected. So you might get taken aback negatively because of more conventional production like “Mysterious Love,” a more standard Punk-Rock with some likable guitar riffs, but wholly uninteresting. It’s like “Crusade,” where the minimalistic approach isn’t so enthusiastic, instead playing it safe where the most intriguing addition is these harmoniously atmospheric organ keys playing in the background. It helps shift tempo but does little else, especially when you get something twangy and colorful on “Gravity Blues” preceding it. Similarly, “Undoer” is this emphatic epic where the minimalist nature of the writing adds depth to the cowboy’s sense of loneliness within the chasm of a mind with an endless hall to walk through. Much of these reflections by the cowboy character have grounded relativity with the content sorting out these notes of love, persistence, and becoming whole as a person lost within the confines of their wayward mind.

That wayward mind gets beautifully heard on “Cowboy Nudes;” the song beautifully paints the musical direction that made me gravitate toward this newer sound, like “3D Country,” rather than the expansive Punk-Art/Rock nature of Projector, Geese’s debut album. There are so many distinct connections getting heard that you get lost in a haze with the musical potency riding through the first half of 3D Country, starting with the more Art-Rock reflections of “2122,” which speaks about the start of their trip, getting deep within the caverns of the mind and expressing the duality that comes from psychedelics. It’s this wicked experience to hear and grasp where they are going with it. It’s a sonic reflection of moods becoming ever-shifty, and “2122” is one of many great songs that beautifully expresses it, especially with the in-song transitions that keep you on your feet. They happen rather often, allowing you to ingest these lavish notes without feeling like an explosion of sounds that’s there to keep it interesting; this has a purpose, specifically in maneuvering the reality of tripping and the emotional conflictions that come with it through sound. You hear it exponentially on the songs “Gravity Blues” and “St. Elmo,” which focus on leveling the field.

3D Cowboy has some incredible writing – it can get redundant, though, as the journey follows themes of love, persistence, and having a grip on self-importance to overcome the negative as descriptors overlap, you wind up remaining for the sound. 3D Country allows the theme of love to feel vague to bolster the varying layers within said expression, like with “Domoto.” With “Domoto,” the sensibilities rupture, creating tears where the cowboy in the album gets lost in his ways, it’s bouncing off tendencies of worth heard on tracks like “Mysterious Love” and “St. Elmo.” They aren’t direct like with “I See Myself,” which is Geese’s proper foray into making a natural love song, but even so, you can break the dimensions of who that person is and bring it back to relative notions that parallel the state of being for the cowboy. The writing and performances are dense and filled with character, particularly as it shifts between the twang and punk-more-hardcore-like vocals to add a semblance of how psychedelics affect mood.

3D Country reminds me quite a bit of Strays by Margo Price, an album released in January, which similarly saw our main protagonist – in this case, Margo Price – reflect on her psychedelic and weed smoke excursions through her writing, adding some sense of living through it by establishing a different complexion for her America-Country style. It’s the same here, though it isn’t as elevated with subtle electronic instrumentations to levy a more vibey and spacey atmosphere, instead feeling composed and authentic to the demonstrative ways our thoughts can boast and harm us, all without sidestepping away into the mediocre. Even when the writing can feel tried, the creative layers within the instrumentations add dimensions to the depth of the songwriting, making you discern the conceptual synergy laid out through all 11-Tracks on 3D Country. Though this isn’t something I wholeheartedly loved from beginning to end, I couldn’t help but leave the songs I did on constant repeat with each new direction it chooses to take with the blending of sounds in this journey with a cowboy on psychedelics. I know you’ll enjoy this journey too. So give it a spin, and I’ll guarantee you’ll come out of it enjoying something off it.