Goose

Goose Channels Live Energy on Record

Myth and fire intertwine in a surprise release.

 

Troy Bass, contributor
 

I knew they were on Jimmy Fallon, but I was too busy to catch it live and figured I’d watch it on YouTube later. I came home exhausted, ignored my messages, and crashed. When I woke up, notifications were flying. Goose had dropped a surprise album. Chain Yer Dragon was out, hitting late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning and sending shockwaves through jam fans everywhere.

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The only real clue came a week earlier with the release of “Royal,” a single that tucked a dragon motif in plain sight. Turns out, this was the plan all along. A GQ feature rolled out alongside the record, unpacking Goose’s current state: lineup changes, early struggles, and how they’re grappling with success. But that’s another story. This is an album review.

 

A Different Approach

Unlike the heavily marketed Everything Must Go, Chain Yer Dragon arrived without warning. The contrast doesn’t stop there. Where Everything Must Go was their most polished studio release to date, Chain Yer Dragon feels raw and alive. Long-form jams tracked in real time and then shaped in the studio, it’s as close as you’ll get to hearing Goose live without leaving your couch.

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Most of the record is made up of older staples and beloved tracks that hadn’t made it onto an album yet, while four newer songs round out the project. “Jed Stone” had only been played twice live, “Royal” served as the lead single, and “Madalena” debuted on Fallon the night of the announcement. Then there’s the 47-second interlude “…..” sitting between the upbeat “Mr. Action” and the brooding “Dr. Darkness.” Short or not, Goose Reddit will tell you, “it is a song!”

 

Track by Track

The album opens with “Hot Love and the Lazy Poet,” a jaunty tale of a drunken poet chasing love. It’s a perfect opener: tight, upbeat, and reflective of how Goose likes to kick off shows.

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“Madalena” follows as the album’s emotional centerpiece, a ballad weaving dream and reality into a story of longing. That thread continues in “Royal,” where themes of ambition and the harsh realities of the music business strike close to home. “Turbulence & the Night Rays” then expands the scope from one musician to a whole band navigating life on the road, its closing jam evoking shades of Phish’s “Divided Sky.”

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“Echo of a Rose” drifts in next. Dreamy, groovy, and offering a hand to guide us forward. Is this mysterious figure Madalena herself? The question lingers as “Mr. Action” arrives, upbeat in sound but lyrically full of deception and doubt. Trevor Weekz’s bouncing bass drives this track, laying the foundation for soaring guitar work and some of Rick Mitarotonda’s most direct lyricism.

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“…..” leads into “Dr. Darkness,” a stark exploration of manipulation and inner demons, before the playful and bouncy “Empress of Organos” offers resilience through love and music, fueled by improvisation. “Jed Stone” shifts the mood, reflecting on aging and mortality, while the fan-favorite jam vehicle “Rockdale” captures Goose at their most interpretive.

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The album closes with “Factory Fiction,” a 17-minute opus that’s long been a cornerstone of Goose lore. Here, it finally gets a studio treatment without losing its sprawling, live-show energy. Starting fast, drifting into melodic improvisation, and building toward a climactic finish, it embodies the spirit of the entire record.

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Final Thoughts

Chain Yer Dragon is a songwriting masterclass. Many of these pieces trace back to Rick Mitarotonda and songwriting partner Matt Campbell in their Vasudo days; the music has evolved, but the stories remain timeless, forming the backbone of what I’ll coin here as the “Goose-verse.”

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Listening feels less like spinning a studio record and more like standing in the crowd, a testament to Goose’s choice to live-track the sessions. The title itself, Chain Yer Dragon, could be a metaphor: harness the power they’ve built at the front of the modern jam scene, or embrace the fiery storytelling and musicianship that defines them. Either way, Goose has delivered something both surprising and inevitable, the sound of a band fully stepping into its moment.