Live Review – Geese

Young Brooklyn post-punks Geese played an energetic show at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club as part of their delayed UK headline tour 4 stars.

With an introduction from a text-to-speech hype man accompanied by the theme from Space Jam, the band’s five members spill out onto the stage, grab their instruments and jump right in to the show. This energy is maintained throughout the set, pausing only momentarily between songs.

Launched with unreleased material, the set is a slight departure in sound, moving closer towards psychedelic rock reminiscent of The Doors. With this new direction, the band seem to have found a more unique voice, leaning less on the sounds of their New York post-punk predecessors.

Geese are a remarkably young band, having written and recorded their first album while still at high school, but it doesn’t show in the performances, with skilful playing and charisma that is often absent in the genre. The band’s danceable sound makes it difficult to keep still during fan favourites ‘Low Era’ and ‘Exploding House’ and they shine brightest during these songs’ noisy, angular guitar breakdowns.

But the most compelling performance comes from album highlight ‘Rain Dance’, its fast pace and pushy guitars creating a forward momentum underlining the repeated lyrical hook “bring me back to life”. There is a slight lull however during ‘First World Warrior’, a slower, more atmospheric track that fails to generate the same enthusiasm when translated to the stage. 

The set is wrapped up with ‘Disco’, a song that has become somewhat of a signature closer. With its hefty length and noisy crescendo conclusion, it is an ambitious track but pulled off in such a way that secures their place in the Brooklyn post-punk canon.