ALBUM PREMIERE: 'All My Friends Are Cattle' by Gooseberry
Gooseberry
“We always say we're a live band first.”
Delivering a "pleasant sweet-tart zing," a gooseberry is a "tasty treat," activating both sweet and sour profiles in a balanced complement. Uniquely mystifying and beloved by flavor adventurists, the fruit shares many traits of the band after its same name.
Born in Brooklyn in the fall of 2019, Gooseberry is comprised of three powerhouse musicians: Asa Daniels, Evin Rossington, and Will Hammond. While vocalist, guitarist, and overall multi-instrumentalist Asa provides a unique scale and emotionality in his lyrics, the band's gritty deliverance is strengthened by drummer Evin and bassist Will. While their debut EP, 'Broken Dance', premiered in 2022, Gooseberry's sophomore EP, 'Validate Me', has attracted hundreds of thousands of streamers–reflective of their ascent within the indie rock genre and as a staple in the New York live music scene. "We owe a huge debt to NYC", the band reflects. "When we're out on the road, it becomes more apparent…There aren't fifty different venues and hundreds of artists that are each terrific in their own way. So to fight through that crucible of sorts, you're going to have to really have a tight sound, and I'd like to think that's helped us get as far as we have to date."
Building on the momentum of their previous works, Gooseberry's "most ambitious project" and first full-length album, 'All My Friends Are Cattle', premieres on September 6th in a true display of "the expansive distance [they] can cover." Painting listeners a full rainbow of who Gooseberry is and what they can do, the album takes us on a refreshingly unpredictable sonic journey that will leave fans both satisfied while still begging Gooseberry to hang around for another song–not only to see what twists and turns their sound will take but to relish in the band's self-described "punch-you-in-the-mouth punk rock to lyrically-driven singer-songwriter to atmospheric prog rock".
Jumpstarting the album is Gooseberry's newest single, "Kikiyon", a poster child for alternative rock and grunge. Much like the song itself, the "Kikiyon" music video is vibrant and playful–with over 22,000 likes on YouTube, the video has attracted a flood of comments similar to that of @kalinkap407's: "Dude you guys are crazy I like it 🙂". The video invites listeners into a surrealist world where each of the three band members is running through a forest with chicken masks covering their faces; humorous, whimsical, gritty, and a bit strange, "Kikiyon" 's visuals pair perfectly with the high energy of the song.
Mirroring the sounds of "Kikiyon", the following songs on the band's newest album," Bitter" and "Cattle", evoke the visuals and emotions of 90s alt-rock through hard and fast drums and guitar work. Ideal for live music, these songs inevitably force a hand to listeners' heads–it's hard not to imagine oneself nodding and jumping along amongst the rest of the crowd while seeing Gooseberry live. When asked how live music influences Gooseberry's music, they note: "Live shows are everything! Making a record is fun and beautiful but also frustrating and isolating. It's all potential energy. But hitting the stage and actually playing these tunes to living, breathing human beings, that's kinetic energy. We always say we're a live band first… They've all been a lot of fun regardless if there are 10 or 1,000 people."
What makes Gooseberry's sound in these pieces even more intoxicating is the meaning behind their lyricism;. At the same time, "Cattle" touches explicitly on the guilt associated with the pursuit of art; the band vulnerably revealed that the theme of transactionality had a significant influence on the overall direction of the album. "To make anything worth its weight, you need to put your all into it. And that's a zero-sum game…That alone can be a tough pill to swallow, and then you layer on the need to promote the work you've just made, which feels all kinds of shameful and gross."
Navigating the listener full speed ahead down the road of heavy rock within the earlier album songs, "All My Friends Are Cattle" makes a sharp turn with its fourth song, "All the Same". Featuring "honorary fourth member" Dan Janis on saxophone, listeners are prone to a welcome whiplash as the song opens with a slower, earthier tone from Asa and drummer Evin. Framing the chorus with hints of blues through the aid of Dan's work on the sax, "All the Same" is a step outside for a breath of fresh air if "Kikiyon" is a buoyant jam session alongside fellow fans at a Gooseberry set. Further surprising the listener with the upbeat "Golden" and the more solemn "One of the Good Ones" (marking Dan's return to sax), listeners learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to 'All My Friends are Cattle' by its final ballad, "Start Over".
Compacted into seven minutes, fans are welcomed to "Start Over" through heavenly instrumentals complemented by Asa's lyrical descriptions of "drifting" and "floating", painting listeners with a serene soundscape. By the two-and-a-half-minute mark, listeners can take greater note of Evin's drum work, peeling back the divine façade of its earlier outset, and by the fourth minute, Gooseberry's signature gritty rock warmly embraces the listener in its familiarity. In a final crescendo, the song's ending fades out–leaving myself, and surely all listeners, on the edge of our seats, waiting to see the next hairpin journey Gooseberry's next project will bring us along for.
Written by Kayleigh Schweiker