SINGLE REVIEW: joyful. – We Were Golden
joyful. pull off something quietly impressive with ‘We Were Golden’—a track that reckons with fading youth and anxious adulthood without slipping into cliché or overstatement. It opens on a synthy, futuristic shimmer, not in a retro or gimmicky way, but with a soft-spoken confidence that immediately sets it apart. Those same synth lines continue to lace through the vocals as they arrive, creating a dreamlike, searching quality that carries the listener straight into the emotional heart of the track before the band pulls the curtain back and lets the pop punk kick in properly.
When it hits, it really hits. The guitars are hooky and immediate, bursting with melody without overloading things, while the vocals keep things grounded—rhythmic, expressive and sincere, without ever tipping into whiney or overwrought. There’s a lived-in honesty here, like they’ve sat with these feelings long enough to know they don’t need to shout about them. The chorus is catchy and cathartic, but it’s the dynamic shifts—the way the track dips in tempo to let those emo vulnerabilities rise to the surface—that give it real emotional weight.
What makes ‘We Were Golden’ shine isn’t just the polish or the punch (though it has both)—it’s the clarity of vision. It’s a proper, thoughtful reflection on growing up, ageing, and all the strange grief that comes with it, wrapped in a track that manages to sound fresh and nostalgic at once. A rare blend of heart and hooks, and a strong statement from a band who know exactly what they’re doing.
