Track By Track: Cleo Handler – compare & contrast

On her new album, Cleo Handler talks about subjects I can easily identify with: relationships, Ireland, cats. But at its core, compare & contrast looks and how we relate to others, and the reverse, as we navigate life.

An intimate series of vignettes, over fourteen songs compare & contrast explores different aspects of those central themes, fusing them into one that comes through in each track to in subtle ways:

“This is an album about dating — and about being on your own,” says Handler. “When someone I was seeing told me they liked me, but their “therapist thought it was important they keep dating other people, in order to compare and contrast,” the sentiment struck me as wildly rude, objectifying, and self-involved (which… I stand by).”

“But over time, as I kept forging ahead and feeling my way, it started to take on new meaning. The more I tried to tune into my instincts and listen to that little voice that had been muffled for a while, the more I found that I was in fact comparing and contrasting — not so much in others, but in myself.”

“I started checking in, wondering: how do you differentiate between the moments that make you feel aligned, secure and happy (from those that really don’t)? When should you sit with your discomfort, and when should you run? As I tried to locate the answers, I wrote this album, and the main thing I found was that the louder and clearer that little voice got, the more I enjoyed its company — and the more I believed it.”

compare & contrast

This title track opens the album because it sets it all up.

marathon

This song is about trying (and totally failing) to find a normal pace with someone you’re dating. And how, if you’re with someone who moves fast, you can feel like the problem for wanting to slow down.

funny seeing you here

This song is about the experience of living in the same neighborhood as someone who — for some unfathomable reason — doesn’t want to date you.

suspension of disbelief

This song is about really not wanting to know what you know.

galway

This song is about the time I went to Ireland with someone on a fifth date. But more than that, it’s about being with someone who is great on vacation, but less so in real life.

summer

Sometimes you try to date someone and it’s just not a match in any way. This one is about that.

rules

This song is about dating someone who is very rigid and set in their ways, and how lovely it is when they try to compromise… even if it’s not ultimately enough.

think about you

This one is about obsession. Fixation. Rumination. Perseveration — OK you get it.

bubbles

This song is about really wanting to make something work — and just really not being able to.

break into 3

This one is about the feeling of wanting to fast-forward through a difficult part of your life, like a movie, and just get to the third act already, where things are working out and the characters are in a better place.

easy

This song is about deciding you no longer want to be low-maintenance.

maybe you’ve noticed

This song is about the feeling that you can’t really miss someone if they never showed you their true self. And maybe there wasn’t even much of a true self to show.

happy baby

About halfway through writing this album, the thought occurred to me: “Huh, I wonder if one of these might end up being a love song. That would be interesting.” This is the closest I came to that. It’s about my cat.

You can listen to compare & contrast on Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. To learn more about Cleo Handler and her music, make your way to Instagram or Twitter.