Here is Helado Negro introducing his own album …
For anyone who knows me and my musical tastes well, this choice for Album of The Month (AOTM) will be no surprise. Not that Helado Negro is an artist that I shout from the roof tops about but because it’s so ‘me’. Is it in an early morning album? Is it a late night album? Is there a difference? For me there is, I go to bed early so ‘Late Night Albums kind of become ‘Early Morning Albums’ by default. Many of my favourite albums and AOTM choices have been characteristically crepuscular. And Phasor is no different.
Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro is a 44 year old American-Latinx artist who has been recording music under this name for 15 years. Lange heralds from Ecuadorian heritage, born in Florida but found his way to New York, Brooklyn to be precise.
Lange studied Computer Art and Sound design, his first creative outputs being experimental installations and by my understanding, followed the sound design, experimentation route and started to make his own music.
Phasor is Helado Negro’s 8th full studio album, quite an output in 15 years given how many collaborations and side projects he’s also been involved with. It’s the 3rd of his album’s that I’ve got to know in detail and is my favourite by some way. It’s the kind of album that I challenge anyone not to like. It’s buoyant and bubbly but in the most muted and understated, almost restrained kind of way. Nothing is ever turned up or overstated, everything sits within a level of comfort and accessible presentation. The drum track on ‘Wish you could be here’ is a great example, it’s a big old beat, in different hands it could make this track a banger but it’s pulled back and almost caged. This is a similar story on every track, there is something that could be bigger, more focal but it’s always dialled back a little so that nothing else is overshadowed.
It’s a very tight album, it’s only 9 tracks, only 35 minutes but it does a lot in it’s short stay. Lyrics are sung in Spanish and English. There is an equal balance of electronic sounds and acoustic instrumentation. They are melded perfectly. There is jazz. There is quite a lot of jazz. There is not too much jazz. Don’t worry.
Here are a bunch of words that describe this album … stringing them together perhaps diminishes their effect as a review so here they are in all their naked glory;
Contemplative. Simple. Quiet. Slow. Environmental. Faint. Clouds. Intimate. Rise. Artistic. Silhouette. Fragments. Rare. Precious.
It’s a vibe. It’s a reflective chill vibe. I love every track. I could make a decent argument for every track being a ‘standout track’. At this point in time, I wouldn’t change a thing. At this point in time, I can’t see this not being in my 2024 top 10. Surely, it’s so ‘Joey’. It’s so good. It’s go so much percussion. It’s got so much tuned percussion.
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