The Housecarls And The Long Road To The Golden Years

The Housecarls bring with them an awareness of history that resonates through their music. Founded in Hastings in 2024, the trio combines several decades-worth of musical knowledge in one pulsing piece that is more introspective than historical. The Golden Years is not an anthem of nostalgia. It is one of resilience, conviction, and the passage of art.

But front and center in this band is singer/songwriter Danny Goring, a man who deliberately moves away from his folk credentials to forge an electric sound. His songwriting is deeply imbued with classic pop hooks, recalling the efficiency of songwriting in mid-1960s pop music. His chiming guitars call to mind a Byrds sound, although his lyrical direction has a Dylanesque feel for storytelling. But it’s a song which cites post-punk, with a bed of energy evoking REM, Smiths, and Cure.

This is sustained by the rhythm section backing the band. Joe Pruessner's bass playing is sophisticated and informed by his work in an orchestral setting, and Darren Barnes's drumming is subtle and attentive, supporting rather than detract from the song and its lyrical essence.
The overall effect is of an honest and assured sound that is lived-in and comes from its own very distinct and confident place.

With recorded evidence from August of 2025 and mixed masterfully by Swedish producer Nalle Ahlstedt, The Golden Years is afforded production that finds equilibrium between paying respect to its simplicity and letting it breathe. The guitars are shimmering but not overpowering, the drums are appropriately rooted, and Goring's vocals fall well at center stage. There is clarity there, but there is also warmth.

On a lyrical level, “The Golden Years” charts a path all too familiar to anyone who has hung on through the years for music. There is a nod to youth and optimism, uncertainty and struggles, and all the characters who have populated along the way. As a reflection of success, there is no reward down the line but instead a viewpoint which is gained along the way.

Inspirations for the Housecarls encompass a large geographical and musical territory, swinging from Greenwich Village, Laurel Canyon, to the Sussex Weald.

This is because their reluctance to be ‘box[ed] into a single tradition’ is reflected in the range of their songs, which seem to be informed and forward-looking rather than based upon nostalgia or precepts. As a first album, “The Golden Years” brings forth a group that is familiar with who they are and where they’ve been. It does not scream for attention. It listens, thinks, and says what it means. In that sense, “The Housecarls” reminds one that sometimes it is not immediacy that lends songs their strength, but the passage of time.