Zum Jahreswechsel entdeckt man dann doch immer noch ein Album, das es quasi in letzter Minute in die persönliche Jahresbestenliste schaffen würde, wenn man eine schreiben würde …
Helado Negros Album This Is How You Smile ist in einigen 2019er-Listen zu finden. Roberto Lange zum Entstehungsprozess:
It was this regimen. I rented my friend’s studio down the street, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where I’d record until 4 in the afternoon. Then I would come home and eat some food, hang with my wife, Kristi, then take the bus to another friend’s studio in Dumbo and work until midnight, editing what I had recorded that day. It was great, but also isolating and really hard, because you get in touch with a lot of feelings when you’re by yourself. I know that sounds really corny. But I was writing a lot on piano and it was extremely emotional. When I’ve written lyrics or melodies before, I’ve never cried, and I was crying.
Imagining What to Do passt dann auch perfekt zur Jahreszeit:
It’s an ode to New York in the wintertime—a song about snuggling up with somebody and addressing the heaviness and the darkness on a psychological and emotional level. You’re wrapped up in a coat, wrapped up in your mind, wrapped up by the heat in your apartment, wrapped up by a building. There’s so many layers in New York, and when winter comes, everything is that much more compressed. That song is finding the place where you can just let go in your mind and know that shit’ll get better.
https://pitchfork.com/features/song-by-song/helado-negro-breaks-down-every-song-on-his-new-album-this-is-how-you-smile
The two of us draw smiles Laughing, half a whistling slowly We wait softly Looking for the sun to come back tomorrow I'll see you waiting for the glow again
https://genius.com/Helado-negro-imagining-what-to-do-lyrics
Sehr schön die Live-Aufnahme im KCRW-Studio:
Wer meint Adron im Hintergrund zu hören, kann nachgucken und hat Recht:
https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/helado-negro