Album review: This is How You Smile by Helado Negro

Photo courtesy of RVNG Intl.

Helado Negro

This Is How You Smile

RVNG Intl.

Score: A+

If you’re only interested in listening to one new album this month, it should be Helado Negro’s This Is How You Smile, a sonic collection of intimate tracks penned by Roberto Carlos Lange that drift through the ether like the soft winds of spring.

The short, clichéd way to describe this album is beautiful, but it’s so much more than that. It’s sparse, delicate and at times resonant with life — experimental, wistful and multilingual.

Helado Negro’s sixth is a masterwork in downtempo alternative music; catchy as all hell without seeming forced, personal without seeming cheesy.

It’s one of the first truly great albums of 2019 — a year that’s already shaping up to be a catch-all killer — and we’re only three months in.

– Alec Warkentin