Helado Negro has announced his new album PHASOR scheduled to be released on 9th February 2024 via 4AD.

The eighth full-length album in Helado Negro’s catalog follows his critically acclaimed 2021 album Far In.  

PHASOR is Lange’s 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.

+ Pre-order PHASOR on exclusive translucent green vinyl, black vinyl, and CD via the 4AD Store +
+ Pre-order PHASOR with unique album artwork, limited to 100 handmade designs, via Bandcamp  +
+ Pre-save and pre-order from all stores +

The announce comes with the release of the album’s first single, 'LFO'. which is accompanied by a hallucinatory self-directed official video.  'LFO' (which stands for Lupe Finds Oliveros), sung in Spanish, brings together inspiration from Lupe Lopez and the minimalist composer and sonic meditation practitioner Pauline Oliveros for a song about ambient stress and endless scrolling.  Oliveros is well-known, Lopez maybe less so. Lopez was a Mexican American woman who worked for Fender Guitar building amplifiers in the 50’s.  All the amps were marked on the inside by a piece of masking tape with the amp builder’s name on it.  “Lupe’s amps are sought after, her care and touch apparently harnessed a special sound from this design," Roberto Carlos Lange aka Helado Negro explains.  "I fell in love with this story and this legacy and the mythology surrounding it.  How craft touches us so deeply in the smallest ways.  Deep care for the littlest things makes all the difference.”

+ Stream 'LFO" on all platforms here + 

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.  The machine is 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.  “I was enthralled by it,” Lange recalls. 

That SAL MAR experience became the bedrock for PHASOR.  It taught Lange more about himself and became central to his creative process.  “It gave me special insight into what stimulates me,” Lange explains.  “This pursuit of constant curiosity in process and outcome.  The songs are the fruit, but I love what’s under the dirt.  The unseen magical process.  I don’t want everybody to see it because not everyone cares to see it.  Some of us just want the fruit.  I do.  But I want to grow the fruit, too.” 

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 the album art drawings for PHASOR. 

Helado Negro - PHASOR
4AD0610

1. LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros)
2. I Just Want to Wake Up With You
3. Best For You and Me
4. Colores Del Mar
5. Echo Tricks Me
6. Out There
7. Flores
8. Wish You Could Be Here
9. Es Una Fantasia

Helado Negro has announced an extensive U.S. album release tour – full dates below, and for more information head here.  Helado Negro will arrive in Europe at the end of this month for a run of shows which include Pitchfork Paris and a Pitchfork London show at Hackney Church.

October
29th - Radar Estudios, Vigo, Spain
30th - Sala Mon Live, Madrid, Spain
31st - Sala X, Sevilla, Spain

November
1st - Sala París 15, Málaga, Spain
2nd - Fundación Mediterráneo - Aula de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
3rd - La Rambleta, Valencia, Spain
4th - WOLF, Barcelona, Spain
5th - Espacio Las Armas, Zaragoza, Span
8th - Trabendo (Pitchfork Music Festival Paris), Paris, France
9th - Hackney Church (Pitchfork Music Festival London), London, UK
10th - Circolo Magnolia, Segrate, Italy

February 2024
9th - The Masquerade, Atlanta GA, US
10th - The Social, Orlando FL, US
12th - White Oak Music Hall, Houston TX, US
13th - Empire Control Room & Garage, Austin TX, US
14th - Tulips FTW, Fort Worth TX, US
17th - Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix AZ, US
18th - Pappy and Harriet's, Pioneertown CA, US
19th - Music Box, San Diego CA, US
21st - The Belasco, Los Angeles CA, US
22nd - August Hall, San Francisco CA, US
23rd - TBA, Sacramento CA, US
25th - Neptune Theatre, Seattle WA, US
26th - Revolution Hall, Portland OR, US
29th - Paavli Kultuurivabrik, Talinn, Estonia

March
2nd - Kablys, Vilnius, Lithuania
3rd - Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
5th - Hole44, Berlin, Germany
6th - Jassmine, Warsaw, Poland
9th - Kulturfabrik Krefeld eV, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
12th - Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
14th - Ekko, Utrecht, The Netherlands

April
21st - Eulogy, Asheville NC, US
22nd - Cats Cradle, Chapel Hill NC, US
23rd - The Atlantis, Washington DC, US
24th - Webster Hall, New York NY, US
26th - TBA, Boston MA, US
28th - Underground Arts, Philadelphia PA, US
30th - Thalia Hall, Chicago IL, US

May
1st - Turf Club, Minneapolis MN, US
3rd - Globe Hall, Denver CO, US
4th - The Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City UT, US