REVIEW: Helado Negro - Island Universe Story Four

Phillipe Roberts

Nine years and ten records deep into recording under the alias of Helado Negro, Roberto Carlos Lange is a master of the changeup. His last record, the brutally intimate Private Energy, swung for the fences lyrically; conceived in the wake of the murder of Michael Brown, Lange dredged up questions of Latinx identity and questioned the possibility of human connection as the American Dream crashed into a cascading nightmare. Daring, yet vulnerable to a degree that other Helado Negro releases had yet to reach, its accessible sonic palette presented a rare blueprint for Lange, a roadmap for an artist continually dancing away from convention.

Or so we thought. This year’s followup, Island Universe Story Four, pulls from a wholly different bag of tricks, flipping a switch and bringing the beat in. His brand of poetic-synthetic pop hasn’t lost an ounce of earworm potency, but Lange has never before seemed so invested in simply moving bodies. Helado Negro was never a particularly wordy project, and the laptop wizardry of arranging and rearranging guest contributions, stretching them into forms his collaborators never dreamed of, are absolutely the dominant feature of his work. But still, a seven-song stretch of this album features no vocals (aside from the occasional field recording for flavor), and only one, “Guardar Our Are,” highlights his Spanish. Dress it up however you like, but Island Universe Story Four is an outlier, and a unique chance to probe an untapped dimension in the mind of Roberto Carlos Lange.

Album opener “Come Be Me” is as deceptive as it is catchy. His voice swinging lazily between the album’s most purely organic instrumentation, Lange tries his hand at a pop standard—the friend-zone anthem—and emerges with a track that wouldn’t sound out of place washing over a crowd from a summer festival main stage. “I’ve been talking about you / To everyone / So they know / We’re fine,” he coos in broken whispers, cloaking his infatuation in shaky reassurances. Internal confusion aside, the sunny instrumentation, chirping with synthesizer beeps and a steady tambourine backbeat, is the album’s emotional highpoint.

From there, Lange pulls a full 180, diving straight into disco hysterics. “ECHO 2” starts and stops, bubbling over with bright, gauzy synths reminiscent of Neon Indian, while a single manipulated vocal note provides a hint of garbled melody. “Source One” takes a polyrhythmic detour, flying through city streets with a nervous energy that subsides on the downtempo “Mist Universe.” The tracks in this electronic stretch are almost all less than three minutes, turning it into a bit of a mini DJ set. The energy flows freely between tracks, keeping it light and fun until “QWERTY,” the longest track, burns it all down with some exceptionally funky powerhouse grooving, manically dueling between handclaps and hi-hats. Full-blown extended rave-outs are a rare treat from Helado Negro, and it’s incredibly satisfying hearing him flex that hidden sixth sense for giving the dance floor what it needs.

Falling into a series of three other cassettes, Island Universe Story Four might not be the best entry point into the catalogue of Helado Negro. Its constant switches in direction and focus on sound design over clear melody turn it into something like Brian Eno’s Another Green World with a backbeat. Within the universe that Roberto Carlos Lange is trying to build, it’s a beautiful destination to visit. Just make sure to brace for impact.

RELEASE DAY: HELADO NEGRO

Will Shenton

Brooklyn-based Helado Negro’s recent series of EPs, Island Universe Story, has proven somewhat difficult to categorize. Though they’re not the four- or five-track teasers we’ve come to expect from releases between albums, none of them feel quite robust enough to stand on their own as full-length LPs. They share thematic elements, but I wouldn’t say they’re all that similar to one another, either. Like chapters of a novel, each installment builds on the framework of the last before branching off in its own direction.

Island Universe Story Three drops today on Asthmatic Kitty Records, and like much of the artist’s previous work, it’s a record that’s best enjoyed in a single sitting. Helado Negro has never exactly been big on singles (though last year’s “Dance Ghost” is a notable exception), and he tends to focus more on the album as a cohesive experience. Like its siblings One and Two, Three is a diverse arrangement of fully fleshed-out compositions, brief, meditative interludes, and meandering soundscapes.

“Salva Nada,” for example, builds over five minutes from sparse, breathy synths into an engrossing symphony of dynamic instrumentation and vocals, then fades slowly back into silence. “Levantar Las Piernas,” on the other hand, opens with a punch of rhythmic, hypnotic guitars that provide driving momentum for its duration. The vocals are similarly mesmerizing, and almost feel reminiscent of some sort of arcane religious chant.

“Lechuguilla, Bassapella” offers only an austere bowed bass and some reverb-soaked, falsetto vocals, but it stands out as one of my favorite tracks on the whole EP. In contrast with the other songs that rely heavily on electronics, an acoustic digression like this helps to ground the album and broaden its horizons a bit.

“Suntan Overcoat,” “The Elephant’s Foot,” and “Antes” are certainly interesting experimental pieces, but they don’t have all that much going on that warrants discussion. They’re essentially reprises that tentatively explore the more abrasive electronic sounds used elsewhere on the record. They certainly serve an important role in bridging the more developed tracks, though, and help preserve the flow of the album.

Overall, Island Universe Story Three is a really enjoyable addition to the series. And while this chapter alone isn’t going to be quite as satisfying for fans as a full-length record, Island Universe Story as a whole is starting to come together into a fairly robust work. I suggest you dim the lights, lie back in a comfortable chair, and play the three in sequence, as I think they’re best appreciated when you can truly immerse yourself in the music. Helado Negro isn’t flashy or loud, but you’ll certainly get as much from it as you’re willing to put in.