The Rise of Geese — and the Return of Real Rock Bands

March 6, 2026·47 min·3 clips

Geese divides audiences because they do too many different things simultaneously — and Rob Sheffield compares the backlash to how people reacted to The Strokes, Interpol, and early Bruce Springsteen.

Brian Hyatt has been waiting to talk about Geese, and it shows. With Rob Sheffield in the mix, he makes the New York City band's rise feel both earned and slightly odd, since Cameron Winter's solo album Heavy Metal helped pull fresh attention back toward the group at the end of 2024. Strange route, good result. They spend time with Winter's opening track, The Rolling Stones, where his fixation on Brian Jones comes off, in Brian's read, as unhinged in the best way. The episode is not just general enthusiasm. Geese had attention early, including a New York Times profile in 2021, but Brian and Rob care more about how the band kept developing on its own terms. The chemistry is the point. Brian hears it in Fantasy Survival and Projector, where the rhythm section dodges the usual rock-band stomp and keeps the songs moving sideways. Radiohead comes up as a useful comparison, not because Geese sound like a copy, but because both bands have that feeling of players turning a private language into something other people can enter. The Brooklyn private-school backstory matters for that reason. They had been playing together since they were very young teenagers, which helps explain why the band sounds so locked in without sounding tidy. Rob and Brian are drawn to bands that grow up together, not out of nostalgia, but because that shared history can change the music. Emily Green gives them a strong example. As lead guitarist, she learned inside the band instead of arriving with polished solo habits, so her playing feels textured, odd, and alive. By the end, Geese become a reason to talk about why bands still matter: the push and pull, the instability, the sense that a group is figuring itself out while the song is already moving.

As heard by us

A lively case for Geese, rooted in band history, guitar detail, and the lift from Heavy Metal.

It keeps Geese at the center, and that works because the piece stays close to the band's backstory and the small details that make the argument feel earned.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a smart, no-hype take on why Geese matter now.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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