 Goldenheart is a post @-@ breakup concept album that explores themes of imagination and dreams . In discussing trials of relationships , it portrays personal subjects as epic tales of battle and salvation . Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times writes that its stories of romantic and professional heartbreak are " tightly intertwined through Richard 's imagery " . Her lyrics employ religious imagery , battle motifs , and allusions to high fantasy and science fiction tropes , including heroic last stands , world @-@ dominating empires , parted oceans , <unk> , vampiric lovers , and military deployment , all used as metaphors for internal landscape and personal conflict . " Northern Lights " and " Frequency " feature space travel and cybernetic imagery , respectively , with the latter song featuring bandwidth references such as " your signal 's found a home " and " stimulation makes it flow " . Jesse Cataldo from Slant Magazine observes " a kind of feverish mysticism " on the album , which he views is " concerned with magical imagery and the self @-@ restorative properties of the human heart . " " ' 86 " is titled after the slang term and is about ridding oneself of barriers . 
