Cleo Handlers’ “Gold” is a powerful breakup album that speaks to the highs and lows of heartbreak, the journey of ripping apart and amending a heart torn from a relationship lost. With raw production and deeply personal lyrics, Handlers explores the loss of love, community, reality, and even one’s sense of self. Because a relationship encompasses you wholly, it affects your connection and relationship with all facets and aspects of your life. A heartbreak is never only centred around a single equation, it seeps into everything else.
But amidst the pain, Handler write s and composes a record that’s also liberating and empowering, carrying with it a sense of hopefulness and inspiration that’s ever so touching. Songs like “friends from college”, relatable to anyone and ever so endearing to feel are among my favourites. There’s a minimal aesthetic to the arrangement, letting the story take centre stage and Handler’s lyrics really shine through. While the entire record is 14 tracks long, each song is short, supple, and quippy. It feels like these little nuggets, each taking you down a trip down memory lane and introspecting on the experiences had and lost now. “wonderful” is a deeply powerful piece, one that really has you exploring how they perceived one another. It tracks the complexities of what you feel and look like to one another, how when there’s another person in the picture you find yourself more concerned about that person all of a sudden. It’s simple in its expressions, but that’s exactly what makes it universal.
Musically, “gold” draws from a variety of influences, including Liz Phair, Wet Leg, and Olivia Rodrigo, and showcases Handlers’ unique style of indie pop-rock. The videos that accompany the album also explore themes of nostalgia, reflection, and playfulness, using a “home movie” aesthetic that complements the album’s introspective tone.
“gold” is a deeply personal and cathartic album that explores the complexities of heartbreak and the power of self-discovery. It’s a powerful listen for anyone coming to terms with the changing landscape of their life in the wake of a relationship gone sour.