by Gabriel Karkovsky (@gabe_karkovsky)
The post-punk band Geo was founded in 2019 in the city of Groningen, known to locals for its cycling culture, entertainment events, and windy weather. The harsh climate reflects on the quartet’s music, sheltering into the negative spaces where chaos and cacophony sound catchy. Five years later, their debut album comes out, with a significant title: Out of Body.
If it ever occurs to you to read about punk rock, or better, about post-punk originally known as new music, Geo’s latest release will not raise your eyebrows. Everything is according to the book; the music is simple, with an easy-to-catch rhythm dominated by loud bass solos, uncomplicated rhythm guitar, and—of course—disturbing background noises that occasionally burn our ears as much as the sun burns the frontman’s eyes in the first track, "Sunglasses."
The more we listen to the music, the more it makes sense despite its original chaos as the Groningen band experiments with other genres, such as disco in "Big Five," a track reminding us of typical 1980s club music with repetitive tones, spiced up by a simple guitar solo. It is a pleasant contrast to the following track, "Set it Free," shocking us with its alarm-like intro. All mentioned above reappear in the final track, "Wu Obt Fas," ripping our ears off, but not necessarily in the wrong meaning of the term. After all, we are being prepared for this crazy post-punk culmination all over the album.
When it comes to lyrics, Geo firmly attaches to the punk rock philosophy with nasal vocals shouted in an “arrogant snarl” rather than sung. Listening to Jorne Visser, modulating his voice to sound like an annoyed Californian teenager, reminds us of the best days of Sid Vicious. However, as soon as we delve into the meaning of the lyrics, we discover a difference from traditional punk music. When the latter emerged, its lyrics tended to be confrontational, reacting to social and political tensions, in order to break the established rock and roll tendencies and at the same time to relate back to aggressive and provocative 1960s music.
None of this is really present in Geo’s lyrics. If their music is rather minimalist, so are the lyrics, referring to everyday struggles with lightness and humor. It seems obvious that the Dutch quartet does not take themselves too seriously, but it does not necessarily mean their words are empty. “Singing about others makes you so exposed,” whispers Visser in "Is Set Free," making us reconsider our perception of life and the music industry.
If 1960s rock and roll reacted to the silliness of the hippie movement and punk rock distinguished itself from mainstream music, Geo seems to take on all enthusiastic and joyful people. Their frontman seems annoyed, disturbed, and maladjusted, much like the music that seems to play in the background by accident. Surprisingly, this works well, especially if you close your eyes and picture yourself in an underground Dutch music club.