Cameron Winter – Heavy Metal

I was aware of Geese because they weren’t Goose (one of my favorite bands). Geese are the rock band of 2025 – proof that indie-rock is not dead. Getting Killed is a consensus album – it is on all the year-end lists. Geese’s year started at the end of 2024 with the release of Geese’s frontman, Cameron Winter’s, debut solo album Heavy Metal. Too late in the year to be on 2024 year-end lists, it was in a bit of an album-release-cycle wasteland, yet it still earned critical acclaim and attention. It put men on base for Getting Killed‘s grand slam.

I am only now listening to Heavy Metal, a year after its release. It has been on my to-do list, but I just have not gotten around to it. A family friend made a special request that I review the album, and that finally got me off my ass to listen to it.

My reaction to my first listen was that I was put off by the album – it seemed weird for the sake of being weird. Heavy Metal doesn’t sound like Geese – except it does because Cameron Winter’s voice is so distinctive. Heavy Metal, with its quieter, more sparse arrangements than Geese, which puts Winter’s vocals front and center. He has a voice like Neil Young – he doesn’t sound like Young – but he is like Young in that no matter what context you place him in, he sounds like Cameron Winter. Which is to say you either like it or you don’t – at best it is an acquired taste. By the second listen, about half the songs hooked me. By the third listen, I am sold on the album; however, I do struggle with Winter’s vocals on certain tracks – it is a speedbump that keeps me from fully embracing the album.

Geese is a rock band, and given this album’s title, I was expecting a rock album. I don’t know how to describe the music on Heavy Metal, but it is not rock. It is kind of an artsy take on folk music. The closest reference point that comes to mind is Nick Drake. It is soulful and somehow baroque and austere at the same time.

The backstory of the album, per a story in GQ, is that a 22-year-old Winter, still living with his parents:

“…has spun a story around Heavy Metal. He’s said that he made the album with musicians found on Craigslist, that his bass player is a five-year-old named Jayden, and the cellist is a steelworker from Boston. He’s claimed that he recorded the album, or parts of it, in various Guitar Center locations in New York City, moving on to a different store each time management wised up and kicked him out, which feels like something a shitty emo band would have done in the late 1990s.”

Given the album’s sonic quality (I am listening to a 24-bit/88.2 kHz FLAC on Tidal), which sounds great, that story sounds like bullshit. It is such a good story, and the story matches the aesthetics of the music, so I am going with it.

“The Rolling Stones” is an ambitious story in which the narrator compares his self-destructiveness, stemming from a lost love, to the Stones’ Brian Jones’ drowning (1969) and John Hinckley Jr.’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan (1981). Instrumentally, it is also ambitious, with a light classical-folk fusion. Reminds me of something Bon Iver might do. Vocally, Winter shows off his pipes, which, depending on your taste, are amazing or annoying.

“Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed)” has a nice, quiet storm, funky vibe. Nausicaä is a character in Homer’s The Odyssey. She is a young, resourceful princess of the Phaeacians, who discovers the shipwrecked Odysseus and helps him. Winter’s narrator is looking for his own Nausicaä. This is my favorite track on the album.

“Love Takes Miles” is a mature view of love: it takes time. Musically, the song has a nicely jangly feel. This is one of the more conventional vocal takes on the album.

“Drinking Age” is one of the songs on the album where Winter’s vocals lose me – it is too weird. But it is his #3 song on Spotify – so what do I know.

“Cancer of the Skull” is the song that references the album title. The song suggests that the drive to create art is like a disease. This song has a mellow folk-rock vibe similar to Nick Drake. Although this song’s quirky vocals are similar to “Drinking Age,” they work for me in this context.

“Try as I May” is a song of unrequited love. Sonically, it is as desperate as the lyrics.

“We’re Thinking the Same Thing” is a mystery to me. I am not clear on what the narrator is talking about, but it seems he can’t communicate with a friend, despite the assumption that they are on the same emotional page.

“Nina + Field of Cops” is both lyrically and musically busy. So many words and so many musical ideas going on at once, it reminds me of Springsteen’s debut album (Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.), which is similarly busy. The Nina may be a reference to Nina Simone, whom Winter is a big fan of.

“$0” was the lead single of the Heavy Metal album cycle. A couplet is repeated several times during the song: “You’re making me feel like a dollar in your hand / You’re making me feel like I’m a zero dollar man.” I am not sure what it means. I am guessing that, as an artist, he feels owned by the star-making machinery of the music business. Musically, it reminds me of late-period Radiohead.

“Can’t Keep Anything” is another song with a Nick Drake vibe. It is the most conventional and accessible song on the album. The song quotes one of David Bowie’s last songs: “But I can’t just give everything away.” This seems like another song against the music industry and how it wants to manage its artists.

I love the ambition of this album, both musically and lyrically. Although I struggle with Cameron Winter’s vocals on some songs, the songwriting, arrangements, and production are so innovative that I am willing to overlook them – perhaps with time, they will grow on me. On the latest Geese album, Getting Killed, Winter tones down the weirdness, which I appreciate, but on Heavy Metal, he lets his freak flag fly, which is incredible for a young artist with mainstream ambitions. Winter and Geese deserve all the hype they are getting.