On Joshua Bassett’s debut album The Golden Years, the singer-songwriter and actor channels his influences to provide a solid pop-rock offering.
The album, released Friday, follows a year full of changes in Bassett’s personal and professional life. In February 2023, he became a Christian, and later that August, he wrapped up his four-season tenure as lead character Ricky Bowen on the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Producers Jeremy Hatcher and Tommy English aid Bassett in crafting sounds that emphasize organic instrumentation while retaining classic pop elements. The majority of the album is focused on romance, with a variety in the types of love discussed.
Bassett ponders a potential romantic endeavor through naturalistic wording on the bass-driven ”Cherry Blossom.” Both “Circles” and “Wildfire” pair frustration over toxic relationships with earwormy, guitar-led compositions. “Would Ya Tell Me” proves to be the heaviest song, carrying paranoia-filled drums and guitar with lyrics about the uncertainty that a relationship will last.
The opening salvo, in particular, stays in Bassett’s wheelhouse of writing about heartbreak and betrayal in ways that get the listener to relate and empathize with him.
The soulful opener “Biting My Tongue” sees Bassett trying to move on from a relationship that ended painfully, while the title track waxes nostalgic for a past lover over upbeat percussion and piano.
“Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” effectively contrasts a catchy tune and falsetto with sad lyrics about how certain songs can remind you of old flames. Up-and-comer Jenna Raine brings great harmonies to the sweetly sparse “Don’t Let Me Down.”
While Bassett has excelled at writing about these topics, the back half of this album also follows in the footsteps of his 2022 EP Sad Songs in a Hotel Room, by showing him branching out into other subject matter.
The campfire-song-esque “Little Rita” tells external stories of broken people in need of reassurance, as tender vocals remind them of their support systems. The rock ballad “Mirror” details an identity crisis stemming from a loss of innocence. Folksy anthem “Look How Far You’ve Come” best showcases Bassett’s vocal range and closes out the album with him providing his own light at the end of the tunnel.
However, while the album is good all around, it never quite rises to great or even all that different. Here, he calls to mind artists whom he’s cited as his influences, including Ed Sheeran and especially Harry Styles.
For example, there isn’t much else to help distinguish a track like “Little Rita” from a Styles cut like “Matilda,” which features similar lyrical subject matter and musical composition. Bassett enlisting Hatcher, who was known for his engineering work on Styles’ previous two albums, to produce certainly does not help discourage comparison.
Overall, The Golden Years is chock-full of Joshua Bassett writing about what he knows best, while still leaving wiggle room for refreshing ideas. This touch of variety makes for an enjoyable listen and sets Bassett apart from his pop peers.
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