Helado Negro

One of producer and singer/songwriter Robert Carlos Lange’s many projects, Helado Negro’s evocative ambient pop songs honor his Ecuadorian heritage and the diverse sounds he heard while growing up in Florida.

On early albums such as 2009’s Awe Owe, Lange’s blend of folk, jazz, electronic, and Latin elements felt like a natural evolution from his collaborations with Prefuse 73 and Savath & Savalas. As time went on, Helado Negro’s tone poems became increasingly focused and eloquent statements on Latinx identity. Lange delved into childhood memories on 2014’s Double Youth and earned a wider audience with 2016’s Private Energy, thanks in part to the singles “Young, Latin and Proud” and “It’s My Brown Skin.”

On 2019’s This Is How You Smile, he reflected on the complex relationship between immigrant parents and their children in poetic and timely ways, while 2021’s Far In celebrated the nourishing pleasures of life that make inner strength possible.