Cleo Sol
Gold
Forever Living Originals
Listen Below
Just two weeks after the release of Cleo Sol’s third album Heaven, comes her fourth LP, entitled Gold. You may be wondering why this has happened, given the traditional “write-release-tour” model that the industry was based on. The answer to that would appear to be, simply, because they can. With Sol and her partner in life and music, Inflo, being the major parts of SAULT (who, lest we forget, released five albums of material simultaneously in 2022), their attitude seems to be in service to the music and not the expectations or demands of the industry.
And if it works for them, then why shouldn’t they do it? Perhaps they are able to exist in a bubble where they own all of their work and are not beholden to record labels and their insistence upon wringing the monetary value out of every release. In short, has their musical excellence and business savvy given them freedom? Perhaps they are content and able to exist on their current level of financial and artistic reward, with music serving as a higher power.
Thoughts of another higher power dominate Gold too. God has always played a part in both Sol’s solo work and SAULT’s, so it should come as no surprise that the album is dedicated in large part to the deity. Where Heaven sounded like a self-help device, so Gold provides the backbone in the form of faith. But, unlike some others, it is not exclusionary and adherent to a particular religion. Instead, it offers inclusivity and spirituality rather than dogma and ideology. This is most clearly heard on “Lost Angel” when she sings, ‘Our souls unite / Our Gods may be different / But they see us all the same.”
The album acts as a soothing balm from a contented soul and the music marries perfectly with the lyrical content. The simpler accompaniments of Heaven continue, and even narrow here, with relatively low-key combinations that allow Sol’s voice to shine once more. Often it is close to a jazz trio set up (albeit with a hint of funk) and with occasional flourishes of other things, like the restrained gospel choir on “Lost Angel” and the tiny but strangely affecting Moog like fizzes on opener “There Will Be No Crying.”
Listen to the Album:
All that allows Sol’s voice and the simple lyrics to sidle effortlessly into your heart. There is a welcome change to the tempo and feel in the final two songs which prevents the album sliding into lethargy. The jaunty bassline of “Life Will Be” is marked contrast to the fare that comes before it and “Gold” keeps things moving at the album’s conclusion.
I have a collection of albums that I keep to soothe me when things take a turn for the worse, including Meshell Ndegeocello’s Bitter (1999) and k.d. lang’s Ingénue (1992). Both Heaven and, now, Gold have joined this relatively exclusive club and that is down to Sol wearing her battle scars so well. She offers faith, hope and the promise of a brighter future and in these times, that is in short supply. Furthermore, the album is further proof that the musical relationship at the heart of this, and many others, is golden and there are no signs of any lustre being lost.
Notable Tracks: “Life Will Be” | “Reason” | “There Will Be No Crying”
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