Helado Negro – Island Universe Story at Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul (21 March 2015)

Setlist

Helado Negro Tour Dates

…and for dessert, black ice cream… waitaminute… black ice cream?!

Helado Negro is actually the musical nom de plume of Roberto Carlos Lange, a South Florida native of Ecuadorian descent, who along with some carefully chosen friends brought the world premiere performance of his Island Universe Story (Cuentos del Universo Solitario) to the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul.

The performance was part of the often-eclectic, always-interesting St. Paul Chamber Orchestra-presented Liquid Music Series, which is midway into its third season of bringing in boundary-defying works by innovative artists.

For this installment, Latin rhythms, electronic beats and classical influences were uniquely combined with the help of ensemble collaborators including Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Adron, Mikael Jorgenson (Wilco), and Jason Trammell (David Byrne, William Onyeabor) and the Minneapolis Music Company as the octet string section. New arrangements were done by composers Trey Pollard (Matthew E White Band) and Jason Ajemian (Marc Ribot) for double string quartet, percussion, and electronics.

A note about the venue itself- the 1,100 seat new Ordway Concert Hall was some two+ years in the making as the new home of the SPCO, is acoustically brilliant, and offers a good view from any seat in the house.  Among the design highlights, the ceiling was raised 30ft to accommodate almost fifteen miles worth of oak dowels that wrap the contoured drop shapes.

The stage is framed as well, in a U-shaped bowl that even allows seating directly above and beside the performers for a unique audio and visual experience.  Acoustically (and similar to the new Northrop), it is ideal to the types of events offered, and even a whisper from the upper deck, carries far down below.

Inspired by Miami sounds from his childhood and with a border-crossing, genre-expanding mission, Roberto Lange and friends brought his latest work (probably born from his earlier Island Universe Story One EP) to life with precision, that both took from the past and looked forward in an Aldous Huxley way that is bigger than all of us.

Singing in Spanish and English, the 85 min. program melded new works with some from the four Helado Negro full-length albums with Lætitia Sadier joining the troupe a few songs in, only to leave, and then return again, as things progressed.

She also was in town long enough to generously play a rare 40 min. in-store at Treehouse Records the day before, which showcased her own solo work, including latest album Something Shines (Drag City Records), which came out last fall.

String arrangements were lush, transforming both the new and the older Helado Negro songs, like ‘Junes’ from 2013’s Invisible Life which was bookended by ‘Invisible Heartbeat’ and ‘Myself on 2 U’, both from last year’s Double Youth (Asthmatic Kitty Records), into something bigger and more contemplative.

Staging of the musicians was critical to the performance as well, with the string octet at stage right, keyboards near the back, bass and percussion to stage left, and principal voices scattered in the middle, all of which made for a cohesive collective sound.

Co-vocalists Adron and Isaac Lekach were on stage for the duration, including the encore when Lekach  was dressed head to toe in a glitter-fringed ball-like suit, dancing around Lange and finally embracing him in an extended hug at the end.

Final song, ‘Paz a ti (Peace to You)’ had people singing to themselves the repetitive chorus out the door as they left, “claro que si”, which roughly translates to “clearly, why yes” or “by all means”.  So, if ever asked if you’d like Helado Negro, your response should naturally be that.