Canyons And Locusts Paint An Absolutely Gorgeous Melodic Masterpiece With “The Goal Gigolo”

All music compositions start the same , a blank undefined thought that finds life and melody , that is then shared with the world . Boston and phoenix melodic noise rock duo , Canyons And Locusts, deliver to the universe and beyond, their striking concept record The Goal Gigolo today, (Friday, February 21) , about a ’70s-era anti-hero who can’t seem to escape his own past misfortunes. 

You can listen to , “The Goal Gigolo” on Bandcamp Here

At the core of the beautiful noise and fuzz that is feverishly front and center on “The Goal Gigolo” , from Canyons And Locust , is the cinematic and musical greatness that makes , “The Goal Gigolo , shine.

“The Goal Gigolo” draws together several storytelling narrators underneath the duo’s unhinged wall of fuzzed-out rock and roll. It fully realizes an unfurling narrative from vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Justin Keane and drummer Amy Young that began in November with the release of the gritty, confrontational, and catchier-than-an-attitude lead single “Anna Save A Life” and last month’s anthemic, ebullient, and riff-fueled “Day of the Canyon.”  

The Goal Gigolo, tabbed by WBUR, Boston’s NPR, as one of the most-anticipated New England records of the winter, and after a deep listen, we completely agree. There is no reason, why “The Goal Gigolo” should be on a gazillion different “Best Albums” of 2025.

From the opening note on “Have To Fire That Goal Gigolo” , it is crystal clear that Canyons And Locusts have harnessed musical nirvana.

Broadly speaking, The Goal Gigolo is the story of a guy who makes his living solving others’ emotional problems while trying not to get entangled with them romantically,” says Keane. “It’s set in the 1970s, so I guess we weren’t calling those people life coaches yet.” 

And like most moments of inspiration, the seeds of the story first came to Keane in a dream.

It sounds made up, but scout’s honor truth here – I had a really vivid dream about a guy named The Goal Gigolo, and the dream was very much sepia-toned and ‘70s feeling, so much so that when I woke up I slapped the details into ChatGPT for fun and asked it to come up with an imaginary show pitch. Then a couple of hours later I was like… wait… an ALBUM!” 

Courtesy of the band

The cinematic saga of The Goal Gigolo, like some kind of distant cousin to Robert Altman’s film The Long Goodbye, plays out like the latest hit Netflix drama we all binge-watch over a weekend and talk about with coworkers on Slack or Teams come Monday morning. 

Every song on “The Goal Gigolo”, from Canyons And Locusts are energetic sonically perfect gems that feature the thunderous and powerful drumming of Amy Young and the one of kind and authentic voice and fuzzed out guitar genius of Justin Keane.

The well woven story in “The Goal Gigolo” had us literally hanging on every word . Besides the lead single, “Anna Save A life” and the follow up , “Day Of The Canyon “ , we found ourselves gravitating towards other stellar tracks such as , “Trapped In Trigger, “Here Come The Buzzards “, and “Take Me Back Lee’s

It was Justin’s dream, but easy for me to connect with – the songs tell the stories,” Young adds. “It’s a journey, and watching journeys unfold is fascinating. It’s a movie that I see in my mind based on Justin’s words. I got to help add a soundtrack to this guy’s goings-on. What’s not awesome about that?” 

Picking a favorite track, on an album like , “The Goal Gigolo “, is next to impossible, however the one track that really stood out to us was…. “Motorwall Oil” , this is Canyons And Locusts, at their absolute best . ( The drum and guitar sounds they were able to create are absolutely otherworldly) Everything about this track is spectacularly magnificent. The one thing that really stood out to us on “Motorwall Oil” , how both Young and Keane were almost cosmically connected.

“I listen to what he’s telling me,Young says. “We’ve known each other and played together for a long time, so generally, I know where his core is at – the nature of where he’s coming from. If not, we’ll talk about it, and then it’s about thinking about how to bring that to life sonically — but also not overthinking it because we leave a lot for the moment when we just play each song and let that give it a lot of its life. And that is really exciting. It starts with him bringing something to me, and then it becomes a glorious conversation.”

“The Goal Gigolo “ , was Produced by Justin Keane and Ethan Dussault. Recorded and mixed by Ethan Dussault at New Alliance Studio in 2023, 2024. Mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East, 2024

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