The modern era is fast-paced. In a blink of an eye, you’ve missed three tags, six text messages, another app asking you to update your password, and an ad for the air fryer you were thinking about buying but never talked about out loud.
Welcome to BIG MODERN! The band’s third full-length in just over one year, Goose comments on the strange duality we humans have built of simultaneously existing both online and IRL. 15 new tracks detail the push and pull of our everyday lives: having gratitude then dread, connection then isolation, authenticity hiding behind our carefully curated personas.
In essence, we’re all just doomscrolling to a killer soundtrack.
Starting with the intro “(begin)” that bleeds into the title track, Goose tosses listeners straight into the digital deep end, where 80s-fueled melodies and chaotic arrangements mirror the disorienting nature of everyday life. Confused what decade you’re in? Good. You’re right where the band wants you.
Every transition and tonal shift in the album serves the larger story of 21st century tech addiction. The wailing guitar in “((nocturne))”, the unsettling scribbling in “(faena)”, all the instrumental interludes (and there are quite a few) move the album’s narrative along. In the fight to stay human in an increasingly artificial world, Goose uses old-school musicianship to triumph over AI overlords.
But, it’s not all apocalypse now…
“Good2B” provides an upbeat groove for any aspiring “Hollywood Jesus” to hit the dance floor to. It’s “Good2B” alive, right?? Well, don’t get too comfortable, as the album’s centerpiece “Good Times // End Times” comes farther down the line, calling out the contradiction of us celebrating while the world’s unraveling. The song captures the crumbling foundation of our modern era: one minute, we’re giving and grateful toward one another; the next, we’re questioning everything and everybody. With two epilogues leading to the album’s end, listeners are left to wonder — are we progressing in this information age…? Or are we regressing?
Out as of last month, BIG MODERN! is a wild and wily album wrapped around a warning. Good thing you’re too busy dancing to the songs to notice… that is till the interludes slap you in the face (a bit). In the end, Goose might just convince you there’s still beauty hiding somewhere between the 37 notifications you got while reading this article. Maybe one of the notifications alerts you to the fact that Goose is on tour throughout the summer and fall months promoting the album and you should go? Or another saying to buy this incredible work of art on vinyl? How coincidental, right? For more information, see below.
Goose – “Good Times // End Times” official video
Track listing:
- (begin)
- Big Modern!
- Scavenger
- (you are here)
- ((savengersspell))
- Good2B
- MEDIA
- Torero
- (faena)
- POP
- SALT
- (again)
- Good Times // End Times
- ((nocturne))
- (((postplace)))
Stream ‘BIG MODERN!’ album on Spotify:
Cover photo by Juliana Bernstein
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Disclaimer: All views presented in this album review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Top Shelf Music.
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