Helado Negro: Exploring Forgotten Memories On 'Double Youth'
False memories manifest when parents recall the story of your first movie, or finding an old photo of yourself that you have no recollection of taking. Trying to piece together hazy and vague memories is what Roberto Lange's latest album as Helado Negro, Double Youth, is all about.
That theme even shows in the album's cover art: an photograph Lange discovered at his parent's house. The photo depicts Lange and another boy with faces painted and with pained, startled expressions of a forced smile. Lange doesn't recall who the other child is, but seems drawn to the idea of creating something out of forgotten and foreign memories.
Currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Lange grew up in South Florida to Ecuadorian parents, and his graciously tumbling electronic music pulls from that heritage by smoothly singing, seamlessly flowing in between English and Spanish. Lange has been recording with various projects for over ten years and has gone by the moniker, Helado Negro since 2009. The name comes from his favorite foods and dreams meaning "Black Ice Cream" in Spanish. Following three full-length records released on the label Asthmatic Kitty Records, Double Youth focuses on structure, rhythm and synth -- moving away from the ambient experimentation of past works. Lange's vocals are still a highlight of his sound on this new record, but they take on more of an elemental role to the overall experience rather than the focal point.
Watch Helado Negro perform with singer Xenia Rubinos, and accompanied by three tinsel-adorned dancers, in the Soundcheck studio.
Set List:
- "Are I Here"
- "Ojos Que No Ven"
- "Invisible Heartbeat"
Interview Highlights
Roberto Lange, on “Ojos Que No Ven,” which was inspired by a friend’s father's struggling with blindness:
He got older and he got sick, and he lost his vision. But he said something pretty inspiring. I’m really boiling this down, but he said, “The interesting thing about going blind is that none of your friends get older. They all stay young.” It was a really positive outlook on something pretty devastating.
On writing songs bilingually:
As I’m writing, I’m shaping sounds with my mouth. And as I’m shaping the sounds, I start hearing words, and then one word happens to be in English, and the other word happens to be in Spanish. Then I figure out how to make a story, or some weird something out of it.
