The Geese

Due to the fact that every jackass and his second cousin have a Pro Tools rig and a MySpace page, it helps to have a gimmick these days. The Geese are working that angle by branding themselves as Lotusland’s finest purveyors of West Coast Danger Folk, a genre name that means even less than “dubstep”.

What’s funny about The Geese is that the quintet needn’t have bothered with such a label, partly because it doesn’t really fit, and mostly because all it brings to mind is Raffi wandering the streets of Tofino with 12 pounds of plastic explosive duct-taped to his beard.

Folk, danger-flavoured or otherwise, is only one of the many touchstones on this gorgeously played, 16-track winner, which starts off with the dark organic postrock of “The Generator” and ends with the mournful classical instrumental “Residuum”. In between, the various members of the Geese take turns at centre stage, moving effortlessly from old-timey torch electro-blues (“Omnibot”) to ghostly soundscape meditations (“Bloodline”) to Canadian-heartland Americana (“Play in a Band”).

The musicianship is scarily accomplished, the recording quality totally pro, and the lyrics are designed to get you thinking about how mankind is driving the planet to hell in a nuclear-powered handcart. Try not to be guilted out by “Storehouses”, which was inspired by news reports that Mitsubishi has been stockpiling frozen bluefin tuna to cash in on the expected extinction of the species. That’s the kind of revelation you can file under “monumentally fucking horrific”, which, come to think of it, is one hell of a lot more attention-grabbing than “danger folk”. - The Georgia Straight

Friday, January 22, 2010
REVIEWS:: THE GEESE SMALL BOAT EP

All too often in this age of indie collectives, you get bombarded with songs steeped in layers so thick the melody and intricacies are lost, along with any spontaneity. The desire for epic sounds leads overproduction and a polish that takes away the heart of the songs or a muddled combination that makes it impossible to feel your way through.

Thankfully, when it comes to The Geese - a folk collective from New Brunswick that recently moved to Vancouver and changed their name from The Family Band - the songs on their EP are full of ramshackle and creativity. Each of the five songs are loosely held together by the shared members but almost nothing else.

The opening number - Le Beau Risque - is a beautiful, bilingual track full of mandolin, drums, acoustic, female vocals and spirit; a clever song from Quebec to the rest of Canada disguised as a back and forth between two lovers, the track sounds like it could be a standard from years long since past but the foot stomp beat that darts in and out and the cymbal washes make the song feel alive. The band does an abrupt turn on Zachari's tender Ancestors, a heartfelt tale about family and love. The piano, long bended notes and gentle picks held complete the cozy setting Zachari sings about, but right around the 3-minute mark, the band adds some playful hand claps to refocus your listen. It's only for a few seconds, but it shows complete control of sound.

Each of the five songs makes an impact, and could stand alone but it's the way the potential and talent the collective offers that really excites me. The songs are heavy in emotion, but the band manages to keep the whole affair fun.On the spiky New Brunswickers, the lead vocals, sing shout chorus and percussive stomp could be slipped into a Bruce Peninsula set, but the band uses strings and accordion to soften the impact.

By the time they experiment with some heavier, almost Crazy Horse inspired electric work on the country rocker, Frustration, you are left wondering if there is any style they won't fuse into their sound. The song, obviously, doesn't crank up the amps and distortion but the slight bit of muscle works well and as they fade into another mix of electric and accordion on God's Children you realize the 17-minutes of music leaves your completely satisfied, and you wouldn't change a note. - www.herohill.com

December can be a good time for looking back over the year that has past. Traditionally I’m well into my “best of 2009? repost series. But this year I keep stumbling upon new music to share with you. Here’s a release from April of 2009 that I missed on the first time round. It’s by a Canadian (natch!) band called The Family Band. The band is a motley collection of songwriters and musicians from St Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. But it’s exactly that loose feeling, communal structure of the band and its music that is so entrancing

There’s a lot going on in the song “Le Beau Risque”. For one thing it’s a bi-lingual debut, secondly the music with it’s crashing cymbals, rolling accordian, and strummed mandolin is magical, and finally the female lead singer has a golden voice. The new EP is called Small Boat and is available through Bandcamp (man, I really like that service!) here. - songsillinois.net