The Chateau Sessions: Slow, Ready, Set, Go
Goose's Chateau Sessions teased a slower, spacier, freer Goose than we've heard in a long time. It all sets up four very anticipated shows in April.
For Goose and Goose fans, the end of 2023 was the best of times and the most uncertain of times. Just several days after Goosemas X, we didn’t know when we’d hear new music from Goose again. The band seemed to be riding a high. Then, on December 22, we found out drummer and founding member Ben Atkind was departing the band.
On March 4, not quite three months after that announcement, Goose, or Goose 2.0 as some have called them, released a 105-minute set of music, known as Chateau Sessions Pt I. The Chateau Sessions Pt I is the first time we are able to hear the new version of Goose play older Goose songs. The first official taste of new-Goose, with drummer Cotter Ellis, was the nine-song, 162-minute Ted Tapes 2024, released February 6.
Part Two of the Chateau Sessions came out this week, on March 11, and the next day the band announced a four-night Capitol Theatre run beginning April 7 - this, after Orebolo played The Cap in February. Among other takeaways, the Chateau Sessions re-confirm that Goose is a well-oiled machine, never falling short on a chance to get out more music, and aren’t we all lucky for that?
The Chateau Sessions Takeaways
I have some other takeaways about the Chateau Sessions.
1) Cotter Ellis is a very good drummer and his style seems perfect for a band that is set on redefining itself with very wide nets. At one point during the sessions, you can see Rick smiling nearly ear to ear, and it seems to indicate a freer Goose, with limitless potential. More excitingly, Ellis, from Vermont, and a former member of Zach Nugent’s Dead Set, must be just beginning to get comfortable. It will be fun to hear how Goose evolves during the next several months. Has anyone been more excited and perhaps even refreshed for upcoming shows?
2) Trevor Weekz on a turned-up-bass is really good; it sounds great. I love the indie-rock vibe his bass notes carry, or, better to say, indie-groove vibe. A turned-up-bass was a real highlight of the Chateau Sessions.
3) Goose is very good. Exceptional, even. Again, no reminder needed; for those worried they’d not sound exceptional with a new drummer, we’re all good.
4) The Chateau Sessions seem to portend a more spacey Goose, and not just the outer space kind. A Goose with more room to breathe. To explore.
Take, for example, Chateau Sessions openers Atlas Dogs and Borne. There is more exploratory space in that tandem than I’ve heard in a while. Atlas Dogs is a good choice for an opener - “take me back to the wild again,” indeed.
Part One’s Madhuvan seems like a whole new terrain for future exploration, a whole new deep forest in which to go. It’s a mix of space Goose and dark Goose, with plenty of avenues to take things - a balance of what makes Goose so compelling.
5) Chateau Sessions Pt II was excellent. Silver Rising never sounded so good. I read a comment on YouTube that said it’s the greatest song ever recorded. You know, if you think about it, you can almost justify it. Silver Rising is quite layered in meaning and sound anytime you hear it; this version is especially polished. Then, later in the Part Two set, there are a trifecta of songs, Arrow into Spirit Of The Dark Horse and into a 27-minute Hungersite, that are what I call, for truly special occasions, Peak Goose.
6) Let’s address the elephant in the room while we just about close up shop on the Chateau Sessions. Were Goose high on mushrooms when they hit record? (Play below if you don’t know what I am referring to.)
7) All and all, it was a great nearly-three hours of music. We’ve all microdosed the Chateau Sessions two, three, four times by now.
Onto Port Chester to see what Goose, or Goose 2.0 if you prefer, is up to, for real.
Have a great weekend,
Gooseheads
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