By Skylar Paxton
Image from The Music Desk
Throughout the music world, there have been profound characters and artists who produce art so spiritually moving, touching, and transcending while maintaining a private and mysterious distance. A few examples are Sade Adu, D’Angelo, and Lauryn Hill. There’s another who creates music in a similar caliber but with her own unique voice and quiet presence. Her name is Cleo Sol, and she’s a golden treasure chest worth uncovering.
Cleo Sol is a London artist who creates music like no other and has moved quietly throughout the music industry. Sol has four albums and one EP released over the past few years and her voice can be heard in the mysterious music collective known as Sault. Sault has released a startling 11 albums and there’s quite literally no clear idea who’s behind it. The collective has done no interviews or photos and no live performances. What we do know is that the music is produced by Inflo, Sol’s husband. His mixture of R&B, urban contemporary gospel, and house music allows him to create beats and rhythms unlike any other. We especially hear that through Sol’s captivating music as well.
I discovered Sol through her COLOR’s performance of the song “Why Don’t You” from her Rose in the Dark (2020) studio album. In the beginning, a soft and rhythmic tapping of the drums plays next to simple piano chords. The second Sol sings in her deep register, a bass sounds off to dance with her voice. The lyrics coupled with the dreamy tone of the music is what really made me fall in love with Sol and her art. “Why Don’t You” is a discussion between Sol and her partner and how his masculinity, his need to prove something, and flaws are being pointed out with love and hopes for reconciliation by Sol. The first verse reads:
Why don't you just let go
And quiet down your ego?
Don't complain about finance
I know your daddy weren't a real man
Go ahead and live your dreams
To me you're stronger than a whole team
I know you can't relax
And you don't want me to know that
It’s a song about seeing your partner, recognizing their insecurities, how those same insecurities invade the relationship, and how Sol wants to approach it with love and communication. It’s a beautiful theme done in the most enchanting way possible.
Sol’s other music remains consistent in its enchanting tunes, but with a more prominent religious message that is digestible, spiritual, and feels like the warm sun shining down on your face. That is what her two new albums released in the same year, Gold and Heaven (2023), beautifully do. These two albums follow themes that many of her other songs carry as well—faith and self-love. The albums, however, follow the themes more directly than her other songs do. In everything Sol does, she does through a spiritual, Christian lens. Her faith is always intertwined within the message she sings in her music. “Rose in the Dark” is about the perseverance and time needed to get through dark times and how she grew like a rose in the dark. It’s also really about getting through dark times with her faith and how the light that guided her out was God himself. Themes like this are more directly expressed through Heaven and Gold which were announced just days before their release.
In the Heaven album, the song “Airplane” is also about finding power and light through dark times. What I love about this song and Sol’s voice is that she sings like an older sister or mother. The chorus reads:
And you will find your power
Little bird, wait
And you will fly again, no fear
High like an airplane
Her music is encouragement not just to herself but to her listeners. With the soft strums of the guitar and gentle beats playing with Sol’s graceful voice, she truly brings a sense of peace and clarity to anyone who listens. Another part of the song talks about praying and obeying to God is how one can find power and learn to fly again. It’s a small mention of her faith and how Sol herself finds power but is such a graceful way of presenting it.
The enchanting and spiritual ways of music goes with the way Sol approaches music in general. Again, she often stays away from social media and is not working for a huge record company. For a while, she even stopped making music between 2013 and 2017. In a rare interview with MTV, one of the few moments she directly talks about her music, she explains, “There isn’t a process, inspiration hits at any time, it’s always about being open and letting God work through me at any moment.” Sol goes against the norms and demands of the music industry and truly allows time, space, and faith to create her art.
I can’t recommend Sol enough to anyone thirsting for music that touches the soul and mind. Her music not only reaches the soul but embraces it, shines a bright light onto it and affirms the listener that this life, their own life, is so much more beautiful than they could ever imagine. I recommend listening to her on a late night drive back home when it’s raining. She has put a warm sun in my car and helped me rest my soul as I go back home with peace and serenity in my mind.
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