"Leopard garden / walk backwards / like you with me before."
Helado Negro's newest track, "Runaround," delivers this syntactical blow engulfed in heat energy and molecular tension. Seconds later, that tension is brought to a simmer. Its singer’s voice now delivers a deep lull that’s as serene as it is engrossing. Whether in English or Spanish, Roberto Carlos Lange has always known exactly how to fuse his surreal compositions with the proper words and emotional response.
The immediate impression that “Runaround” leaves is pure Psychic type. Subdued, but not defeated. Inspired by the titular Issac Asimov short story, and gestated during a traumatic moment when Michael Brown’s murder at the hands of police did not lead to convictions, the song is revived now at a time when little has changed. Trauma just might become our decade’s hallmark, but Helado Negro’s electronic coda resists complete despair. At its core, this is a fortifying track, a new verse in the thematic mantra offered in last year’s “Young, Latin & Proud.” We needed this.
"Runaround” is taken from Helado Negro’s new album titled Private Energy, out September 30.