Helado Negro returns with This Is How You Smile, an album that freely flickers between clarity and obscurity, past and present geographies, bright and unhurried seasons. Miami-born, New York-based artist Roberto Carlos Lange embraces a personal and universal exploration of aura – seen, felt, emitted – on his sixth album and second for RVNG Intl.
Helado Negro returns with This Is How You Smile, an album that freely flickers between clarity and obscurity, past and present geographies, bright and unhurried seasons. Miami-born, New York-based artist Roberto Carlos Lange embraces a personal and universal exploration of aura – seen, felt, emitted – on his sixth album and second for RVNG Intl.
February 9 street date. "PHASOR" is Helado Negro's tightest collection of songs - deep, atmospheric, and meticulously executed. His acclaimed 2021 album, "Far In", focused on being in quarantine - talking to your mother through Zoom instead of across a room. "PHASOR", in turn, is a homage to going outside again. The 9 tracks make up a return-to-life, remembering what the sun feels like, and letting it warm your skin. Helado Negro recently relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, and the landscape around him was essential to this album - the crystalline mountains dotted with mica, wild blueberry bushes, and inky dirt surfaces. He made the collection of songs at his studio, across the hall from the studio of his wife, his frequent collaborator Kristi Sword, who created the album art drawings.
February 9 street date. "PHASOR" is Helado Negro's tightest collection of songs - deep, atmospheric, and meticulously executed. His acclaimed 2021 album, "Far In", focused on being in quarantine - talking to your mother through Zoom instead of across a room. "PHASOR", in turn, is a homage to going outside again. The 9 tracks make up a return-to-life, remembering what the sun feels like, and letting it warm your skin. Helado Negro recently relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, and the landscape around him was essential to this album - the crystalline mountains dotted with mica, wild blueberry bushes, and inky dirt surfaces. He made the collection of songs at his studio, across the hall from the studio of his wife, his frequent collaborator Kristi Sword, who created the album art drawings.
February 9 street date. "PHASOR" is Helado Negro's tightest collection of songs - deep, atmospheric, and meticulously executed. His acclaimed 2021 album, "Far In", focused on being in quarantine - talking to your mother through Zoom instead of across a room. "PHASOR", in turn, is a homage to going outside again. The 9 tracks make up a return-to-life, remembering what the sun feels like, and letting it warm your skin. Helado Negro recently relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, and the landscape around him was essential to this album - the crystalline mountains dotted with mica, wild blueberry bushes, and inky dirt surfaces. He made the collection of songs at his studio, across the hall from the studio of his wife, his frequent collaborator Kristi Sword, who created the album art drawings.
October 22 street date. When Roberto Carlos Lange, the musician known as Helado Negro, began writing 'Far In' immediately following the release of 'This is How You Smile' (spotlighted as Pitchfork's #7 "Best Album of 2019"), he could not have predicted that we would soon need to learn how to stay at home and be the stars of our domestic dance floors with intimates and online communities. Roberto and his partner, the visual artist Kristi Sword, had planned to visit Marfa, Texas for an early 2020 residency to work on their collaborative project 'Kite Symphony'. Once the pandemic hit, they decided to stay in Marfa through the summer, inspiring Roberto to write a significant amount of songs on the upcoming album. Driving back to Brooklyn in the fall inspired by his work in the desert, Roberto auspiciously purchased a Rhodes from a friend who 20 years earlier gave him his first synthesizer, an Arp Odyssey 2800. The electric piano was a catalyst that guided much of the remaining songwriting for the album.
October 22 street date. When Roberto Carlos Lange, the musician known as Helado Negro, began writing 'Far In' immediately following the release of 'This is How You Smile' (spotlighted as Pitchfork's #7 "Best Album of 2019"), he could not have predicted that we would soon need to learn how to stay at home and be the stars of our domestic dance floors with intimates and online communities. Roberto and his partner, the visual artist Kristi Sword, had planned to visit Marfa, Texas for an early 2020 residency to work on their collaborative project 'Kite Symphony'. Once the pandemic hit, they decided to stay in Marfa through the summer, inspiring Roberto to write a significant amount of songs on the upcoming album. Driving back to Brooklyn in the fall inspired by his work in the desert, Roberto auspiciously purchased a Rhodes from a friend who 20 years earlier gave him his first synthesizer, an Arp Odyssey 2800. The electric piano was a catalyst that guided much of the remaining songwriting for the album.