“Colores Del Mar,” colors of the sea, is about disappearing on a walk or swim; there are the complexities of wanting to disappear, but to also be found, escaping by coming closer. “Colores Del Mar” is, technically speaking, a song filled with hidden details,” Lange explains. “It was maybe one of the most fun I had mixing and shaping. I embedded a lot of pride in this song. I tried to peacock it, to show off but also hoped it was a magic trick, maybe real magic, like something would happen when it’s finished.”

Lange’s eighth full-length Helado Negro album, PHASOR is his tightest collection – deep, atmospheric, and 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.

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. A complex synthesizer that creates music generatively with a vintage supercomputer brain and analog oscillators, it can create an infinite amount of possibilities in sound sequences. The SAL MAR experience became the bedrock for Phasor. It taught Lange more about himself and became central to his creative process.

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.

UPCOMING HELADO NEGRO TOUR DATES
April 21 – ASHEVILLE, NC – Eulogy (SOLD OUT!)
April 22 – CHAPEL HILL, NC – Cats Cradle
April 23 – WASHINGTON, DC – The Atlantis (SOLD OUT!)
April 24 – NEW YORK, NY – Webster Hall
April 26 – BOSTON, MA – Sinclair
April 27 – HAMDEN, CT – Space Ballroom
April 28 – PHILADELPHIA, PA – Underground Arts
April 30 – CHICAGO, IL – Thalia Hall
May 1 – MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Turf Club (SOLD OUT!)
May 3 – DENVER, CO – Globe Hall (SOLD OUT!)
May 4 – SALT LAKE CITY, UT – The Urban Lounge