World Tour Launches on Friday in US
Roberto Carlos Lange (Helado Negro) by Sadie Culberson
“Buoyant, big-hearted avant-pop… His most infectiously joyous songs to date.” – Uncut (9/10)
“One of the richest listening experiences I’ve had for years; Helado Negro’s PHASOR is a triumph.” – Loud & Quiet (9/10)
“Warm, hopeful chugs that fuse electronica, folk and chamber pop to harness his light, intoxicating vocals… rendered with a delicate, impressionistic touch.” – MOJO (4/5)
“Helado Negro’s heavy-lidded dream-pop is fine-tuned to the languid luxury of a ceaseless, carefree summer afternoon.” – DJ Mag
Today, Helado Negro (aka Roberto Carlos Lange) releases a short film entitled ‘Stories Of PHASOR’ directed by Spencer Kelly which explores the inspiration and making of his new album. The album, PHASOR, is out this Friday via 4AD.
PHASOR features recently released singles, the ebullient yet melancholic ‘Best For You and Me’, languid and fuzzy love song ‘I Just Want To Wake Up With You’ and Spanish language single ‘LFO’, which is a song written in tribute to both Fender amp-builder Lupe Lopez and minimalist composer and sonic meditation practitioner Pauline Oliveros (LFO means Lupe Finds Olivero).
Lange’s eighth full-length Helado Negro album, PHASOR is his tightest collection – deep, atmospheric, meticulously executed. It’s aligned with 2019’s This Is How You Smile which found him incorporating more upfront drums and bass and focused grooves. His 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. It’s a returning-to-life record, remembering what the sun feels like and letting it warm your skin.
Some of the seeds for PHASOR were planted in 2019 on Lange’s 39th birthday after a 5-hour visit to Salvatore Matirano’s SAL MAR machine at the University of Illinois. A complex synthesizer that creates music generatively with a vintage super computer brain and analog oscillators, it can create an infinite amount of possibilities in sound sequences. The SAL MAR experience became the bedrock for PHASOR. It taught Lange more about himself and became central to his creative process.
After Far In, Lange relocated to Asheville, North Carolina and the landscape around him was essential to PHASOR —the crystalline mountains dotted with mica, wild blueberry bushes, and inky dirt surface constantly. He made the collection at his studio, across the hall from the studio of his wife, his frequent collaborator Kristi Sword, who created th album art drawings for PHASOR.
‘Stories of PHASOR’