This Is How You Smile is the sixth studio album by American musician Helado Negro. It was released in March 2019 under RVNG Intl.
The title of the album is taken from a story by Jamaica Kincaid.
Critical reception
In a year-end essay for Slate, Ann Powers cited This Is How You Smile as proof that the album era format is not dead in 2019 but rather undergoing a "metamorphosis", with artists such as Negro utilizing the concept album through the culturally-relevant autobiographical narratives, which in this case is a "bilingual love letter to his family".
Pitchfork described the album as Lange's "sixth and best album as Helado Negro deepens and expands upon the imagistic nature of his lyrics and cosmic synth-folk. It is a sublime, masterful piece of music".
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from liner notes and AllMusic.
Roberto Carlos Lange – vocals, Casio MT-30, electric banjo, electronic percussion, classical guitar, electric guitar, Juno, Korg synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, noise, ondes, Roland Juno-6, vibraphone, field recording, recording, mixing, engineering Adron – vocals Raquel Berrios – vocals Luis del Valle – vocals Nene Humphrey – vocals Ela Minus – vocals Victoria Ruiz – vocals Xenia Rubinos – vocals Kristi Sword – echo, footsteps, whistle Matthew Crum – guitar, bass Keith Reynaud – guitar Owen Stewart-Robertson – guitar Jenn Wasner – guitar Sufjan Stevens – piano Bryan Abdul Collins – synthesizer Chris Devoe – synthesizer Oliver Hill – viola, violin Jason Trammell – drums Joe Westerlund – drums Jason Nazary – drums Jay Wynne – drums Tim Barnes – percussion Andy Stack – steel pan Jason Ajemian – bass Logan Coale – bass Nick Sanborn – synthesizer arrangements, writer Aquiles Navarro – trumpet Angela Morris – saxophone Nathaniel Morgan – saxophone Jean Cook – field recording Michael Kaufmann – field recording Isaac Lekach – field recording Matana Roberts – field recording Matt Werth – field recording Rachel Alina – mastering Anna Grothe-Shive – photography Will Work For Good – design Michelle Grinser – lacquer cut
References
External links